Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded to “Buy” at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. UBS Group currently has $144.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on WLK. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.92.

Westlake Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of WLK opened at $110.03 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 154.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake has a 1 year low of $108.95 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.03.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 74.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in Westlake by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Westlake by 84.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 531 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Westlake during the third quarter worth $62,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.