BMO Capital Markets Lowers Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target to $132.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $157.00 to $132.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

WLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.86.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $112.52 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $113.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.76. Westlake has a 1 year low of $104.74 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 2,393 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 5,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 346,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $39,759,000 after purchasing an additional 28,505 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 3,182.3% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 219,030 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,112,000 after purchasing an additional 212,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by 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.