Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Sells 150 Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Westlake were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the first quarter worth $43,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter worth $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the third quarter worth $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WLK. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.92.

Westlake Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of WLK traded down $1.52 on Tuesday, hitting $132.34. 115,162 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 431,759. The company has a market capitalization of $17.02 billion, a PE ratio of 64.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.16. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $113.57 and a one year high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 100.96%.

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.