Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Raised to Overweight at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $180.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $162.00.

WLK has been the subject of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Westlake from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho started coverage on Westlake in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. They set an outperform rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $167.50.

Westlake Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $146.64 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.69, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $148.80. Westlake has a 1 year low of $112.77 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Westlake’s payout ratio is presently 105.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its position in Westlake by 2.6% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,302 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Westlake by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 40,228 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,147,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in Westlake by 3.4% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 3,518 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.