Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded 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. They currently have $140.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $152.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on WLK. Barclays upgraded Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.83.

Westlake Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:WLK traded up $1.37 on Wednesday, hitting $116.91. The stock had a trading volume of 10,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 458,896. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $130.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.44. The stock has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 164.66, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a 1-year low of $115.00 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

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

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently 295.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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