Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $91.6429.

Several brokerages recently commented on WLK. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $98.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Westlake from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Finally, Mizuho set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Westlake and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $76.48 on Wednesday. Westlake has a one year low of $68.55 and a one year high of $139.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -144.31 and a beta of 0.93.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly 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). Westlake had a positive return on equity of 1.26% and a negative net margin of 0.57%.The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This is an increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -400.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Westlake

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake in the second quarter worth $104,314,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its position in shares of Westlake by 246.0% in the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,851 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at $62,508,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at $72,974,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.