ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Position in Westlake Corporation $WLK

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 19.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 422,640 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 67,486 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $32,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $104,314,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in Westlake by 246.0% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,851 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in Westlake during the second quarter valued at approximately $62,508,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 12,724.7% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 351,011 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,652,000 after purchasing an additional 348,274 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 2,092.7% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 306,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,267,000 after purchasing an additional 292,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WLK shares. Alembic Global Advisors set a $80.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Westlake from $82.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho downgraded Westlake from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $99.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 48.57 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.07. Westlake Corporation has a one year low of $56.33 and a one year high of $118.23.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently -28.57%.

About Westlake

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.