Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target Raised to $98.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Mizuho from $82.00 to $98.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock. Mizuho's target price points to a potential upside of 20.44% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $117.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.77.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK traded down $2.06 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $81.37. 863,474 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 756,421. Westlake has a twelve month low of $68.55 and a twelve month high of $153.34. The company has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.31, a PEG ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $77.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.02.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 732.7% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $113,865,000 after acquiring an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Westlake in the 1st quarter worth about $72,974,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Westlake by 366.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 901,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $90,150,000 after purchasing an additional 708,142 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Westlake in the 4th quarter worth about $46,630,000. 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.