nVerses Capital LLC Buys New Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Westlake during the first quarter worth $43,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Westlake by 8,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at about $101,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.92.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $136.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $143.73 and a 200-day moving average of $148.00. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $112.77 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. 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 (DPR) is presently 100.96%.

Westlake Company 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.