Rokos Capital Management LLP Buys Shares of 60,800 Westlake Corporation $WLK

Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new position in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,104,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 4.4% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 121,444 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,187,000 after buying an additional 5,078 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at $1,675,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Westlake by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,921 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Westlake by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 133.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $72.44 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.70 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.54. Westlake Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $56.33 and a fifty-two week high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by ($0.67). Westlake had a negative net margin of 14.91% and a negative return on equity of 1.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.31) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -16.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Westlake from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.64.

About Westlake

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.