Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 1st, 2023

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK – Free Report) by 657.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 162,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,653 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.13% of Westlake worth $18,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WLK. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Westlake during the first quarter worth $28,000. Gyon Technologies Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the first quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in Westlake by 39.9% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Westlake from $144.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Westlake from $129.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.67.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Westlake

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.00, for a total transaction of $131,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,148 shares in the company, valued at $1,329,388. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $130.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.26. Westlake Co. has a 12-month low of $81.29 and a 12-month high of $138.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 1.28.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $3.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.50 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 12.44%. Westlake’s revenue was down 27.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 8.78 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.357 per share. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 24th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Westlake Profile

(Free Report)

Westlake Corporation manufactures and markets performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The Performance and Essential Materials segment offers polyethylene, styrene monomer, ethylene co-products, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), vinyl chloride monomer, ethylene dichloride chlor-alkali, chlorinated derivative products, and epoxy resins.