Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy Rating

Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $75.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $116.00.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Westlake from $155.00 to $132.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.23.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK opened at $90.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.10. Westlake has a 1 year low of $81.41 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The stock has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 45.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted 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 valued at $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 58,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Westlake by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $107,092,000 after purchasing an additional 43,544 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.