Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Upgraded to “Buy” at Bank of America

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $174.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $138.00. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 15.42% from the stock’s previous close.

WLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.79.

Westlake Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $150.76 on Thursday. Westlake has a 1 year low of $103.28 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a return on equity of 9.70% and a net margin of 3.82%. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.57, for a total value of $667,764.78. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,893,632.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.57, for a total value of $667,764.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,893,632.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total value of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the 4th quarter worth about $8,492,000. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 66.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 119,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,883,000 after purchasing an additional 47,799 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Westlake by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,260 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the 3rd quarter worth about $790,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,630,975 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $577,344,000 after purchasing an additional 96,152 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.