Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) Stock Has Average Target Price of $83.87 According to Brokerages

Shares of Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.20.

WLK has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Westlake from $95.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. KeyCorp started coverage on Westlake in a report on Friday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $92.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group set a $86.00 price target on shares of Westlake and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth $1,117,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at $19,544,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at $1,700,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the second quarter valued at $16,952,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,715 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 17,689 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Westlake Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of WLK stock opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. Westlake has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of -6.60 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s fifty day moving average is $70.80 and its 200-day moving average is $83.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.45.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.11) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a $0.5330 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently -22.23%.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK) is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, automotive, and consumer products. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company operates through businesses focused on producing chemical building blocks, polymers, and specialty materials.

Its product portfolio includes polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlor-alkali products such as caustic soda and chlorine, polyethylene, epoxy and specialty resins, and other performance chemicals.