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

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $159.83.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,838 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 699.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after acquiring an additional 520,669 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after acquiring an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 90.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after acquiring an additional 183,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter worth $55,542,000. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of WLK opened at $114.65 on Thursday. Westlake has a 52 week low of $112.63 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $125.17 and a 200-day moving average of $137.54. 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 market capitalization of $14.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.48, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

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.