Marshall Wace LLP Sells 26,512 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Marshall Wace LLP cut its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 62.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,914 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 26,512 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in Westlake were worth $1,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Westlake by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Westlake by 1,668.2% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Westlake by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Westlake by 84.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WLK. Bank of America raised Westlake from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $105.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Westlake from $155.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $122.25.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $93.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $100.50 and a 200-day moving average of $114.89. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $81.41 and a one year high of $161.31. The company has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

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.

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