DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 181 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reduced its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,540 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Westlake were worth $529,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Westlake during the third quarter worth $75,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $132.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 63.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $141.49 and its 200-day moving average is $146.66. Westlake Co. has a 52 week low of $118.25 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 100.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on WLK shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.92.

About Westlake

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.