Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $110.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $135.00.

WLK has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Westlake from $168.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Westlake from $147.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.07.

Westlake Stock Down 1.7 %

WLK stock opened at $110.37 on Thursday. Westlake has a 1-year low of $104.74 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $113.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 45.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after acquiring an additional 23,558 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Westlake by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,377,000 after acquiring an additional 6,476 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Westlake by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,242,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Westlake by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 79,178 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,078,000 after buying an additional 5,512 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Westlake

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.