Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $9.43 Million Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 82,251 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,430,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 247.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 72.0% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 84.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WLK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.07.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $107.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.81 and a 200-day moving average of $125.67. The company has a market cap of $13.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $104.74 and a one year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 45.36%.

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.