Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 29.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 157,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 67,262 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.12% of Westlake worth $18,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Westlake by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 149,574 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $17,149,000 after purchasing an additional 12,587 shares during the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth about $1,009,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,343,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 82.3% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 344,790 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $39,530,000 after acquiring an additional 155,618 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 557,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,297 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WLK. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.25.

Westlake Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE:WLK traded up $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $91.86. 603,314 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,138. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.41 and a fifty-two week high of $161.31. The company has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of 129.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.11.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. 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.