Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Given a $94.00 Price Target by BMO Capital Markets Analysts

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) has been assigned a $94.00 target price by analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 29.96% from the company’s previous close.

WLK has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Westlake from $132.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $116.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Westlake from $130.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.54.

Westlake Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $72.33 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake has a 1 year low of $71.76 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The company has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.87, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $90.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.10.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. Westlake’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Westlake by 732.7% during 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 period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake in the first quarter worth $72,974,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Westlake by 366.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 901,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $90,150,000 after purchasing an additional 708,142 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Westlake by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the 4th quarter valued at $46,630,000. 28.40% of the stock is currently 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.