Recent Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Westlake (WLK)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Westlake (NYSE: WLK) recently:

• 2/27/2025 – Westlake was upgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating. They now have a $110.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $135.00.
• 2/26/2025 – Westlake was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating.
• 2/26/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $147.00 to $133.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 2/26/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $157.00 to $132.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 2/26/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $122.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 2/25/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $130.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 2/25/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $175.00 to $135.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 2/25/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $134.00 to $116.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 2/25/2025 – Westlake had its price target lowered by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $168.00 to $166.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 1/28/2025 – Westlake is now covered by analysts at Truist Financial Co.. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price target on the stock.

Westlake Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $107.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18. Westlake Co. has a one year low of $104.74 and a one year high of $162.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $444,610,000 after acquiring an additional 21,293 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $379,933,000 after acquiring an additional 574,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Westlake by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after acquiring an additional 9,838 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Westlake by 732.7% in the fourth 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. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Westlake by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $112,711,000 after acquiring an additional 58,093 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.