Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $95.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $110.00 to $95.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on WLK. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Westlake from $132.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.77.

Westlake Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $78.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.14, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. Westlake has a 12 month low of $77.23 and a 12 month high of $161.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $97.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.40.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 70.47%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 557,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,297 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Westlake by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,242,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Westlake by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,098,000 after buying an additional 11,992 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Westlake by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth 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 period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.