D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $28.98 Million Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 305.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 252,747 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 190,389 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Westlake worth $28,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Westlake by 732.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,630,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 827,516 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $94,875,000 after buying an additional 299,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in Westlake by 348.8% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 364,274 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,327,000 after buying an additional 283,100 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $80.05 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.21. Westlake Co. has a twelve month low of $76.97 and a twelve month high of $161.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of 112.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. 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 2.62%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 70.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WLK shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Westlake from $125.00 to $103.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.92.

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.