Farringdon Capital Ltd. Invests $642,000 in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,596 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after acquiring an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 2.4% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 40,613 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,104,000 after buying an additional 940 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 84.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its position in Westlake by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 13,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,522,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.23.

Westlake Stock Up 0.3 %

Westlake stock opened at $90.33 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.23, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.41 and a fifty-two week high of $161.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Westlake Co. 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 Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

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.