Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on WLK. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.07.

Westlake Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $100.71 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $111.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.68. The stock has a market cap of $12.91 billion, a PE ratio of 141.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. 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 52-week low of $99.18 and a 52-week high of $162.64.

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

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 45.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $444,610,000 after acquiring an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during 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 in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position 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 lifted its stake in Westlake by 6.3% in 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 buying an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.