Holocene Advisors LP Has $65.82 Million Stock Holdings in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 440.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 854,184 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 696,029 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP owned about 0.67% of Westlake worth $65,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Westlake by 180.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 49.6% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Westlake by 58.1% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in Westlake by 87.3% in the 2nd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 1,167.1% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,001 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research raised Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total transaction of $1,756,916.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,484,178.36. This represents a 28.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $110.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.48 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.48. Westlake Corporation has a 12-month low of $56.33 and a 12-month high of $116.46.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $1.22. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The business’s revenue was down 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -18.12%.

Westlake 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.