Brokerages Set Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) PT at $93.77

Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.77.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Westlake from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 target price on shares of Westlake and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Westlake by 732.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 873,888 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 6.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 58,093 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WLK traded down $5.10 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $82.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,067,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 965,654. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Westlake has a twelve month low of $68.55 and a twelve month high of $153.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.55 and a beta of 0.91.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business's revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were given a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.47%.

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.