Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 128.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 141,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,815 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $21,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank increased its position in Westlake by 17.9% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,742,000 after buying an additional 3,710 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 89.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Westlake by 134.4% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.17.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $130.45 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.73, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $138.31 and a 200-day moving average of $144.44. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $118.64 and a 12-month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 295.77%.

Westlake Profile

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.