Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Westlake from "sell" to "hold", and after a string of recent analyst moves the stock carries a MarketBeat consensus "Hold" rating with a $110.19 average price target.
• Westlake beat quarterly EPS estimates (reported ($0.25) vs. ($1.47) expected) but still showed a negative net margin of 13.5% and revenue down 10.9% year-over-year; the stock trades near $110 with a $14.2B market cap and a 52-week range of $56.33–$124.23.
• CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares (~$1.76M) in late February, reducing his holdings by 28.15%, while institutional investors own about 28.4% of the company and several funds recently increased their stakes.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Westlake from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $97.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Westlake from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $110.19.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $110.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $110.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of -9.47 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Westlake has a 52-week low of $56.33 and a 52-week high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $1.22. Westlake had a negative net margin of 13.50% and a negative return on equity of 1.22%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total transaction of $1,756,916.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 44,433 shares in the company, valued at $4,484,178.36. The trade was a 28.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Westlake during the first quarter worth $1,133,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in Westlake by 497.5% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 42,043 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $4,911,000 after buying an additional 35,006 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Westlake by 219.4% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 955 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted 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 valued at $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 17,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 58.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 213,157 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $15,761,000 after purchasing an additional 78,458 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company's stock.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company's core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

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