Pictet Asset Management SA Increases Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Pictet Asset Management SA raised its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK – Get Rating) by 15.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,716 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 1,741 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 72.2% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,978,839 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $291,985,000 after buying an additional 1,248,590 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Westlake by 189.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 802,507 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $99,029,000 after buying an additional 524,828 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,018,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $262,260,000 after buying an additional 169,460 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Westlake by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 707,543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,353,000 after buying an additional 168,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 670,282 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,234,000 after buying an additional 125,762 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.79% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $120.72 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $114.38 and a 200 day moving average of $104.35. The company has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97 and a beta of 1.24. Westlake Co. has a 1-year low of $81.29 and a 1-year high of $141.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 1.79.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 21st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.24 by ($0.45). Westlake had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 22.54%. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 11.11 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, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st will be given a $0.357 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 8.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WLK. UBS Group lifted their target price on Westlake from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Westlake from $109.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Westlake from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Westlake from $80.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Westlake from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.21.

Westlake Company Profile

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Westlake Corp. manufactures and markets petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated building products. It operates through the following segments: Olefins and Vinyls. The Olefins segment manufactures ethylene, polyethylene and styrene and associated co-products at the manufacturing facility in Lake Charles and polyethylene at the Longview facility.