Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Rating Upgraded by Tudor Pickering

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by investment analysts at Tudor Pickering from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

WLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Westlake from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.93.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $82.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -154.81, a P/E/G ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $78.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Westlake has a 1-year low of $68.55 and a 1-year high of $153.34.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Westlake had a positive return on equity of 1.26% and a negative net margin of 0.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Westlake by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Westlake by 10.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,041,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $104,150,000 after buying an additional 102,268 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 732.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 993,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $113,865,000 after buying an additional 873,888 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Westlake by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 983,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $112,711,000 after buying an additional 58,093 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 934,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $107,092,000 after acquiring an additional 43,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.