Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $102.20.

WLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Westlake from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, March 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total value of $1,756,916.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,484,178.36. This represents a 28.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 7,239.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $312,080,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,207 shares during the period. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth about $160,548,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth about $104,314,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in Westlake by 246.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 440.1% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 854,184 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $65,823,000 after purchasing an additional 696,029 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Down 0.2%

WLK stock opened at $113.19 on Friday. Westlake has a 1-year low of $56.33 and a 1-year high of $116.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of -9.67 and a beta of 0.83.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $1.22. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -18.12%.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.