Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 41.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,975 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 4,129 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Westlake were worth $1,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 64,811 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,071,000 after buying an additional 10,687 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,492,000. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 66.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 119,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $14,883,000 after buying an additional 47,799 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,260 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at about $790,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other news, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total value of $560,371.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total value of $677,460.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,389,052.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares in the company, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,658 shares of company stock valued at $1,923,225 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.79.

Westlake Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE WLK opened at $148.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.92. Westlake Co. has a 12 month low of $103.28 and a 12 month high of $162.64. The company has a market capitalization of $19.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.10, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 3.82%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Westlake Co. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

About Westlake

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.