Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Cuts Position in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lessened its holdings in Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 13,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WLK. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 71.9% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 514 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 19.5% in the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 94,638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,467,000 after buying an additional 15,460 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 2.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 100,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,047,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 33.9% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 10,113.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 53,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,343,000 after buying an additional 52,893 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of WLK stock opened at $71.14 on Thursday. Westlake Corp. has a 12 month low of $68.55 and a 12 month high of $153.34. The stock has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.76.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 4.19%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Westlake Corp. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Westlake in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

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.