Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $130.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $130.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on WLK. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial started coverage on Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.21.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $112.19 on Tuesday. Westlake has a 12 month low of $104.74 and a 12 month high of $162.64. 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 market cap of $14.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.98 and its 200-day moving average is $128.88.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Westlake by 732.7% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 699.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after purchasing an additional 520,669 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,630,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth $55,542,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.