Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Stock Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 63,723 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 6,420 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.'s holdings in Westlake were worth $7,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $444,610,000 after buying an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Westlake by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $180,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,838 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Westlake by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,630,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $105.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $126.23.

Westlake Stock Down 1.1 %

WLK traded down $1.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 306,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,085. The stock's 50-day moving average is $103.84 and its 200-day moving average is $118.10. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $81.40 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.39, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake's payout ratio is 45.36%.

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.