Cibc World Markets Corp Has $200,000 Stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Cibc World Markets Corp lowered its stake in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 22.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,746 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 502 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Westlake were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,242,000 after acquiring an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,098,000 after buying an additional 11,992 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Westlake by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after buying an additional 23,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after buying an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $139.00.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $101.58 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.53. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $99.18 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $13.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

Westlake 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.