Westlake Corporation $WLK Shares Sold by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lowered its stake in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 16.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 817,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 164,198 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.64% of Westlake worth $59,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 7,239.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $312,080,000 after buying an additional 4,163,207 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at approximately $240,474,000. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $160,548,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $139,431,000 after acquiring an additional 585,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $289,647,000 after acquiring an additional 477,698 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Westlake from $110.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.92.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE WLK opened at $76.25 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.96 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.45. Westlake Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $56.33 and a fifty-two week high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.11) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $0.533 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.23%.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total transaction of $3,120,724.44. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.