Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 31.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,855 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,169 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Westlake were worth $730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WLK. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 89.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,400,000 after acquiring an additional 20,913 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Westlake by 134.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth about $513,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.17.

Westlake Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $117.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 165.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.11 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $131.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.75.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

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.