Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $140.07.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WLK. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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 research report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Westlake Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $102.76 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.93. Westlake has a 12-month low of $99.18 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18.

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). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.36%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after buying an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Westlake by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after acquiring an additional 9,838 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Westlake Company 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.