Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Key Points

• Citigroup has reduced its target price for Westlake's stock from $100.00 to $93.00, maintaining a "buy" rating, which implies a potential upside of 18.43%.
• The current consensus rating for Westlake is "Moderate Buy," with a target price averaging $92.50 based on assessments from multiple analysts.
• Westlake's stock recently traded at $78.53 and reported a loss in earnings for the last quarter, missing expectations with an EPS of ($0.09).

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $100.00 to $93.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock. Citigroup's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.43% from the stock's current price.

WLK has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Westlake from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Westlake from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Westlake Stock Up 2.3%

WLK traded up $1.77 on Thursday, hitting $78.53. The company had a trading volume of 153,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,033,466. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.07. Westlake has a 52-week low of $68.55 and a 52-week high of $149.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -148.17 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.15). Westlake had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a positive return on equity of 1.26%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.40 earnings per share. Westlake's revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 10,113.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 53,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $5,343,000 after purchasing an additional 52,893 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 525 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Westlake by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 100,439 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $10,047,000 after purchasing an additional 2,383 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Westlake by 19.5% during the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 94,638 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,467,000 after purchasing an additional 15,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Westlake by 71.9% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 514 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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