60,800 Shares in Westlake Corporation $WLK Acquired by Rokos Capital Management LLP

Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new stake in Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,104,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 4,386,635 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $324,348,000 after purchasing an additional 472,224 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 7,239.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $312,080,000 after buying an additional 4,163,207 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $289,647,000 after buying an additional 477,698 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 4th quarter worth $160,548,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Westlake by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $139,431,000 after buying an additional 585,438 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WLK. Citigroup reduced their target price on Westlake from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Westlake from $104.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.64.

Westlake Price Performance

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

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.67). Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.89% and a negative net margin of 14.91%.The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.31) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

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

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.