Royal Bank of Canada Trims Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Target Price to $170.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $174.00 to $170.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an outperform rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $167.17.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK opened at $144.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake has a 12 month low of $112.77 and a 12 month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Westlake will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.96%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $101,000. 28.40% of the stock is 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.