ING Groep NV Takes $3.04 Million Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

ING Groep NV bought a new position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 20,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,036,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 1.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,548 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,990,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 97 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $513,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $736,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 80,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.17.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $126.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.39, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.35. Westlake Co. has a 12 month low of $118.64 and a 12 month 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Company 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.