Brokerages Set Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Target Price at $154.85

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $155.79.

WLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK opened at $114.43 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 161.17, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake has a 12-month low of $108.95 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $118.22 and a 200-day moving average of $132.66.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 295.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $227,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,239,420. This represents a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $89,445,000 after acquiring an additional 520,669 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in Westlake in the third quarter valued at $55,542,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Westlake by 90.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 183,666 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth about $19,718,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,295,000. 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.