Seven Eight Capital LP Purchases New Shares in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth approximately $101,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at $122,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.00.

Westlake Stock Down 1.2 %

Westlake stock opened at $144.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $143.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.43. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.77 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a PE ratio of 72.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.53%.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Performance and Essential Materials and Housing and Infrastructure Products.