O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $250,000 Position in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,181 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 382 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Westlake in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,630,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in 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 during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 525.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 278,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,766,000 after acquiring an additional 233,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,411,000. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on WLK shares. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.15.

Westlake Stock Up 3.1 %

WLK stock opened at $89.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.33, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Westlake Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.41 and a fifty-two week high of $161.31. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $104.69 and a 200-day moving average of $118.94.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.