Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $110.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $110.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WLK. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.15.

Westlake Stock Down 8.5 %

Shares of WLK stock traded down $7.93 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.80. 270,243 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 739,393. Westlake has a twelve month low of $81.40 and a twelve month high of $161.31. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.75.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were issued 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 2.45%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Westlake by 2.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 100,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $10,047,000 after buying an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Westlake by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Westlake by 10,113.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 53,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,343,000 after acquiring an additional 52,893 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Westlake by 404.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,677 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Westlake by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 42,934 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. 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.