Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Grows Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 3,520 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's holdings in Westlake were worth $2,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WLK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,630,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,292,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Westlake by 137.9% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 13,627 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 7,900 shares during the period. Walnut Level Capital LLC raised its stake in Westlake by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Walnut Level Capital LLC now owns 72,285 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $8,287,000 after purchasing an additional 27,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on WLK shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their target price on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.15.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock traded up $10.88 on Wednesday, reaching $93.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,568,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 560,284. The business's 50 day moving average is $105.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.75. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Westlake Co. has a 1 year low of $81.41 and a 1 year high of $161.31. 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 earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Westlake's quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is 45.36%.

Westlake Company 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.