Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $120.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $135.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WLK. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.21.

Westlake Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $99.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.56 and a 200-day moving average of $123.12. Westlake has a 52-week low of $98.51 and a 52-week high of $162.64. The stock has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a PE ratio of 139.57, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $444,610,000 after acquiring an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 574,068 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Westlake by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after purchasing an additional 9,838 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted 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 buying an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $112,711,000 after buying an additional 58,093 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Company Profile

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.