Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Acquired by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 699.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 520,669 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.46% of Westlake worth $89,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WLK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth $27,179,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 90.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 183,666 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Westlake by 3,330.4% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 150,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $23,802,000 after acquiring an additional 145,673 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Westlake in the third quarter valued at $19,718,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Westlake in the third quarter valued at $15,295,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.17.

Westlake Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $128.68 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.64 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $136.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.27.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

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.