Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) Receives $92.29 Average Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) has an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy,” with six hold recommendations, eight buy recommendations, and one strong buy from fifteen firms.
• The company's quarterly earnings report showed a loss of ($0.09) EPS, falling short of the $0.06 consensus estimate, as revenue declined 7.9% year-over-year.
• Westlake recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.47 to $0.53 per share, representing a 2.4% dividend yield.

Shares of Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $92.2857.

WLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Westlake from $98.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $390,120,000 after acquiring an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 246.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $110,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,851 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at about $104,314,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,041,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $104,150,000 after acquiring an additional 102,268 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $112,711,000 after acquiring an additional 58,093 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Stock Performance

Westlake stock traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.14. The company had a trading volume of 751,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,086,019. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Westlake has a 12-month low of $68.55 and a 12-month high of $151.56. The company's fifty day moving average is $83.75 and its 200-day moving average is $86.94. The company has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -160.64 and a beta of 0.92.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $2.40 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Westlake's dividend payout ratio is -400.00%.

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.