Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Acquires Shares of 12,762 Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 12,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WLK. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,179,000. Appian Way Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,154,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 3,330.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 150,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $23,802,000 after purchasing an additional 145,673 shares in the last quarter. Natixis boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 41,979.2% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 85,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,988,000 after purchasing an additional 84,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,302,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $144.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $112.77 and a one year high of $162.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $143.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.58.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. Westlake’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.17.

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.