Brokerages Set Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Price Target at $162.67

Shares of Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $162.17.

WLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $126.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.18 and a 200 day moving average of $145.32. Westlake has a 12 month low of $118.64 and a 12 month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 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 up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Capital World Investors increased its position in Westlake by 1.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,334,579 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $203,924,000 after buying an additional 22,743 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Westlake by 0.8% during 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 last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 699.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after acquiring an additional 520,669 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Westlake by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Westlake by 90.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after purchasing an additional 183,666 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.