Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Cut to $133.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $147.00 to $133.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays cut their target price on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.86.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

Westlake stock opened at $112.52 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $113.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake has a 12 month low of $104.74 and a 12 month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. Westlake’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,838 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after purchasing an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $112,711,000 after purchasing an additional 58,093 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is 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.