Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Stock Holdings Lowered by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 109,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 4,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.08% of Westlake worth $12,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Westlake by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $11,242,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,098,000 after buying an additional 11,992 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Westlake by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 12,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Westlake by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $82,837,000 after buying an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $379,933,000 after buying an additional 574,068 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WLK. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $140.07.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded down $0.55 on Friday, reaching $100.73. 2,590,041 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 516,703. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.87, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.18 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The business's 50-day moving average is $112.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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). The business 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 period last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.