Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price cut by research analysts at Bank of America from $134.00 to $116.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 3.10% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WLK. StockNews.com raised shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.86.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $112.52 on Tuesday. Westlake has a 12 month low of $104.74 and a 12 month high of $162.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.47, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 4.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Westlake by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 12,833 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Westlake by 15.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,377,000 after acquiring an additional 6,476 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Westlake by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,242,000 after acquiring an additional 4,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in Westlake by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 79,178 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,078,000 after acquiring an additional 5,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.