Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target to $133.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price objective cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $147.00 to $133.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on WLK. Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.07.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $112.39 on Wednesday. Westlake has a twelve month low of $104.74 and a twelve month high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.36%.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 4.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after buying an additional 23,558 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after buying an additional 12,833 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Westlake by 15.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 49,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,377,000 after purchasing an additional 6,476 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Westlake by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,242,000 after purchasing an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 79,178 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,078,000 after purchasing an additional 5,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Company Profile

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.