UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by analysts at UBS Group from $118.00 to $101.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock. UBS Group's target price points to a potential upside of 42.29% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $96.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $96.62.

Westlake Stock Performance

NYSE WLK traded down $0.55 on Wednesday, hitting $70.98. The stock had a trading volume of 3,678,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 662,281. The company's 50-day moving average is $86.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.57. The stock has a market cap of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a one year low of $69.78 and a one year high of $161.24.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Westlake by 17.7% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $390,120,000 after acquiring an additional 586,178 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,973 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $444,610,000 after purchasing an additional 21,293 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 10.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,041,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $104,150,000 after purchasing an additional 102,268 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in Westlake by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $112,711,000 after buying an additional 58,093 shares during the period. 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.