Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Shares Down 5.1% – What’s Next?

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK)’s share price fell 5.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $63.42 and last traded at $63.4330. Approximately 531,518 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 1,142,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WLK. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, July 17th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $92.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.43.

Westlake Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 0.63.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.11) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Westlake Corporation will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $0.5330 per share. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -22.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,117,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,700,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,544,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Westlake by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,715 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 17,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Westlake by 28.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,685,000 after purchasing an additional 52,551 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.