Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $140.07.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Westlake Trading Down 0.5 %

Westlake stock traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $100.73. The company had a trading volume of 801,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,632. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake has a 12-month low of $99.21 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $112.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.67. The firm has a market cap of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Westlake's payout ratio is 45.36%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $180,154,000 after acquiring an additional 9,838 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in 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 valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $112,711,000 after acquiring an additional 58,093 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.