Westlake Corporation $WLK Shares Bought by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) by 107.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,967 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 41,435 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $5,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WLK. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 79.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter worth approximately $69,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Westlake by 5,958.8% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,693,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $196,640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649,241 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, AlphaGrep UK Ltd acquired a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $897,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of WLK stock opened at $70.77 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Westlake Corporation has a 1-year low of $56.33 and a 1-year high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.11) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake Corporation will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a $0.533 dividend. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is -22.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WLK. Zacks Research upgraded Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Westlake from $110.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the sale, the chairman owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. This represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.