Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $135.00 at Barclays

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Barclays from $175.00 to $135.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.98% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.86.

Westlake Stock Up 0.4 %

WLK opened at $112.52 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $113.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.76. Westlake has a twelve month low of $104.74 and a twelve month high of $162.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.47, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 74.10% 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 added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 4.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Westlake by 27.5% during 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 during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Westlake by 15.2% during the third 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. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,242,000 after acquiring an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 7.5% in 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 during the last quarter. 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.