HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 678 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,497 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 678 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WLK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,179,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Westlake by 90.6% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,084,000 after purchasing an additional 183,666 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3,330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 150,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $23,802,000 after purchasing an additional 145,673 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,718,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,295,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.83.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $227,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,239,420. The trade was a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $113.23 on Monday. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $112.63 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.57 billion, a PE ratio of 159.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

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.