Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $123.51 Million Stake in Westlake Corporation $WLK

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its stake in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,670,327 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 121,633 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 1.30% of Westlake worth $123,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Westlake by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 562 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Westlake by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Westlake from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised Westlake from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Westlake from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Westlake from $97.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.36.

Westlake Price Performance

Westlake stock opened at $86.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.81 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $102.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.77. Westlake Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.33 and a 52 week high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.67). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.89% and a negative net margin of 14.91%.Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.31) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently -16.69%.

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.