Creative Planning Sells 95 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Creative Planning lessened its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,642 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 95 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Westlake were worth $848,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Westlake by 1.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,334,579 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $203,924,000 after purchasing an additional 22,743 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 17.4% during the second quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 223,366 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,100 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth $27,179,000. Appian Way Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Westlake during the first quarter worth $25,154,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Westlake by 3,330.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 150,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,802,000 after purchasing an additional 145,673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.92.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $132.14 on Friday. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.25 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.66. The company has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.19. 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 (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. 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 currently 100.96%.

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.