Lmcg Investments LLC Reduces Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Lmcg Investments LLC lowered its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 77.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,751 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 22,808 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Westlake by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 84.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Westlake in the third quarter valued at approximately $75,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. Finally, Barclays raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.85.

Westlake Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $119.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 167.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $119.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.26. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $108.95 and a 1 year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.