Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Trims Stock Holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lessened its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 25.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,068 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 6,614 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Westlake were worth $2,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lmcg Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.7% during the second quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 29,321 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,246,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $8,559,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 89.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after buying an additional 20,913 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,721 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 7,422 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Westlake Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of WLK opened at $144.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $112.77 and a one year high of $162.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $143.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.55. The company has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 105.53%.

Westlake Profile

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.