Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Position Reduced by Mutual of America Capital Management LLC

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 1.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,068 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 337 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $2,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WLK. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 1.7% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 3.8% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Westlake by 3.4% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,518 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $532,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Westlake by 4.1% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,911 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.17.

Westlake Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $130.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.59. Westlake Co. has a 52-week low of $118.64 and a 52-week high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

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.