StockNews.com Downgrades Westlake (NYSE:WLK) to Sell

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WLK. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.07.

Westlake Stock Down 1.7 %

WLK stock opened at $110.37 on Wednesday. Westlake has a 52 week low of $104.74 and a 52 week high of $162.64. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $113.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.64. The company has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 21.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.8% during the 3rd 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. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.