Analysts Set Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Target Price at $140.07

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $140.07.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WLK shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Westlake Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $101.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake has a 1 year low of $99.37 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $112.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.67.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.36%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the third quarter valued at approximately $420,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 80,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 3.8% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Westlake by 1.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 26,548 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,990,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Westlake by 4.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,911 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by 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.