Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Lowered to $170.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $174.00 to $170.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 17.89% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on WLK. Citigroup raised their target price on Westlake from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $172.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report 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 given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.17.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $144.20 on Friday. Westlake has a 52 week low of $112.77 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.61. The company has a market cap of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.33, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Westlake will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Westlake in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.