UBS Group Upgrades Westlake (NYSE:WLK) to Buy

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $144.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 30.29% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.92.

Westlake Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE WLK opened at $110.52 on Friday. Westlake has a 52-week low of $108.95 and a 52-week high of $162.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Westlake news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in Westlake by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 30,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,444,000 after buying an additional 2,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Westlake by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 100 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.