Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Rating Increased to Buy at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has $140.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $152.00.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WLK. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.83.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $113.23 on Wednesday. Westlake has a fifty-two week low of $112.63 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.48, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 43.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in Westlake by 8,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Westlake during the second quarter worth $66,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Westlake during the third quarter worth $75,000. 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.