Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $159.83.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $89,445,000 after buying an additional 520,669 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,542,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,179,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Westlake by 90.6% in 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 period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Westlake by 3,330.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 150,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $23,802,000 after buying an additional 145,673 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $114.65 on Thursday. Westlake has a 12 month low of $112.63 and a 12 month high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 161.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 295.77%.

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.