Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Raised to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $159.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $151.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WLK. Mizuho began coverage on Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.92.

Westlake Trading Down 0.6 %

Westlake stock opened at $139.34 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.34. Westlake has a 52-week low of $112.77 and a 52-week high of $162.64. 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 company has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Westlake will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. 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 (DPR) is presently 100.96%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the third quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Westlake by 66.7% in 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 last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is 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.