Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $155.00 to $135.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Westlake traded as low as $108.95 and last traded at $109.83, with a volume of 17966 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $111.68.

WLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.92.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Westlake by 89.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,913 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Westlake by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 4,364 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 15.2% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Down 1.0 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $123.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.66, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 295.77%.

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.