Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Raised to $100.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $100.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 0.03% from the company’s previous close.

WLK has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Alembic Global Advisors set a $80.00 price objective on Westlake in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $78.00 target price on Westlake and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Westlake from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.20.

Westlake Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NYSE WLK traded down $3.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $99.97. 262,194 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,427,087. Westlake has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $114.75. The company has a market capitalization of $12.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 52.44 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.47.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total value of $3,004,304.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 4,386,635 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $324,348,000 after buying an additional 472,224 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 7,239.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $312,080,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,207 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $289,647,000 after buying an additional 477,698 shares during the period. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in Westlake during the 4th quarter valued at $160,548,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Westlake by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $139,431,000 after buying an additional 585,438 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.