Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Lifted to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has $174.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $138.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of Westlake from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Westlake from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $144.43.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $148.95 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Westlake has a 12-month low of $103.28 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.30.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a net margin of 3.82% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.79 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other Westlake news, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares in the company, valued at $3,055,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total transaction of $677,460.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares in the company, valued at $6,389,052.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Westlake by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,630,975 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $577,344,000 after purchasing an additional 96,152 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Westlake by 6.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,803,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $454,374,000 after purchasing an additional 236,332 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Westlake by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,311,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $183,605,000 after purchasing an additional 675,725 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Westlake by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $139,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,142,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $159,917,000 after buying an additional 66,614 shares in the last quarter. 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.