KeyCorp Forecasts Westlake's FY2026 Earnings (NYSE:WLK)

Key Points

• KeyCorp forecasts Westlake’s FY2026 EPS at $2.90, below the $3.31 consensus estimate, while maintaining an “Overweight” rating and $92 price target.
• Westlake’s latest quarter exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.01 versus $1.83 expected and revenue of $3.27 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• Shares opened at $70.77, well below their 52-week high of $124.23. Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $93.79, while Westlake raised its quarterly dividend to $0.533 per share.

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK - Free Report) - Stock analysts at KeyCorp issued their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Westlake in a report released on Thursday, September 10th. KeyCorp analyst S. Tiano forecasts that the specialty chemicals company will post earnings of $2.90 per share for the year. KeyCorp currently has a "Overweight" rating and a $92.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Westlake's current full-year earnings is $3.31 per share.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 0.93% and a negative net margin of 10.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.11) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on WLK. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Westlake from $127.00 to $104.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price target (down from $130.00) on shares of Westlake in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $106.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, July 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.79.

Westlake Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $70.77 on Monday. Westlake has a 1 year low of $56.33 and a 1 year high of $124.23. The firm's 50-day moving average is $75.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,062,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,117,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the second quarter worth approximately $19,544,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,750,000 after buying an additional 17,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Westlake by 28.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,685,000 after acquiring an additional 52,551 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of Westlake 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 completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.533 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $2.13 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -22.23%.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.

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