Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $132.00 at Truist Financial

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) had its target price cut by Truist Financial from $155.00 to $132.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WLK. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $105.00 target price (down previously from $120.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Westlake from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.25.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK traded up $1.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $91.86. The stock had a trading volume of 603,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,138. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $102.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.11. The stock has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.37, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. Westlake has a twelve month low of $81.41 and a twelve month high of $161.31.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake's payout ratio is presently 45.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 21.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 732.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Westlake by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $107,092,000 after purchasing an additional 43,544 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

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.