Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price Target Raised at Citigroup

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WLK. UBS Group lowered their price target on Westlake from $86.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Mizuho set a $72.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $89.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 price target on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Westlake Trading Down 4.1%

WLK traded down $2.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 767,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 927,636. Westlake has a twelve month low of $56.33 and a twelve month high of $124.23. The stock has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of -18.33 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.29) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Westlake will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $0.5330 per share. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s payout ratio is currently -61.38%.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in Westlake in the third quarter valued at approximately $615,000. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in Westlake during the third quarter worth approximately $349,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the third quarter worth $277,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the third quarter worth $273,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 54.4% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 352,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,961,000 after acquiring an additional 124,129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials, as well as products used in housing and infrastructure. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company serves customers in construction, packaging, healthcare, consumer products, automotive, and other industrial markets.

Westlake’s materials portfolio includes chlor-alkali and derivative chemicals, polyethylene, PVC, vinyl intermediates, epoxy resins, and other specialty products. These materials are used in applications such as water treatment, coatings, adhesives, plastics, medical products, and packaging.

Through its housing and infrastructure businesses, Westlake also produces building products including vinyl siding, trim, roofing products, pipe, fittings, and related components.