Truist Financial Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $168.00 to $166.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 47.53% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $112.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a 1-year low of $104.74 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.76.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 699.1% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,445,000 after buying an additional 520,669 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,630,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of Westlake during the third quarter worth approximately $55,542,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.