12,241 Shares in Westlake Corporation $WLK Purchased by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,241 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $943,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Westlake by 49.9% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 640 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 79.9% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 48,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,646,000 after acquiring an additional 21,319 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth $404,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at $104,314,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 142.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 25,833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 15,193 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on WLK shares. Mizuho set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $87.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $80.00 price objective on Westlake in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Westlake from $87.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.60.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK stock opened at $73.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Westlake Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $119.86. The company has a market cap of $9.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.95 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.09.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 8.34% and a negative return on equity of 0.78%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

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 $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.