Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 2,916 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,432 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,916 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.08% of Westlake worth $11,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% in the fourth 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 holdings 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 valued at $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,630,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 56.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 299,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 348.8% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 364,274 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,327,000 after acquiring an additional 283,100 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Westlake from $125.00 to $103.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Westlake from $110.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.08.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $86.37 on Wednesday. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $76.97 and a fifty-two week high of $161.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.65, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.55.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Westlake’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.47%.

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.