Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Lifted to “Neutral” at Bank of America

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

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.92.

Westlake Stock Down 0.6 %

WLK stock opened at $139.34 on Wednesday. Westlake has a one year low of $112.77 and a one year high of $162.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.02, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $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.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Westlake will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.53%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 90.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after buying an additional 183,666 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 40.3% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 10,410 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,565,000 after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Westlake by 1.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.