Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Given New $166.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Truist Financial from $168.00 to $166.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 48.15% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on WLK. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.21.

Westlake Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded up $2.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $112.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 129,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,816. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $114.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $129.12. Westlake has a 52 week low of $104.74 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The company has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly 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 during 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%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 4.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Westlake by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,377,000 after acquiring an additional 6,476 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Westlake by 7.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 18,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 8,813 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.