Bank of America Upgrades Westlake (NYSE:WLK) to Neutral

Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $159.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $151.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WLK. StockNews.com downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Westlake from $174.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.92.

Westlake Trading Down 0.6 %

Westlake stock opened at $139.34 on Wednesday. Westlake has a 1 year low of $112.77 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $143.85 and its 200-day moving average is $148.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.02, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. Westlake’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 105.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Westlake during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the third quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.