Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $110.00 to $125.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Westlake traded as high as $121.73 and last traded at $122.3420, with a volume of 45849 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.53.

WLK has been the topic of several other reports. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.53.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total value of $1,756,916.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 562 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 180.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 740 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Stock Performance

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 company’s fifty day moving average is $103.24 and its 200 day moving average is $84.33. The company has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.45 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd were issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.