Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Given “Neutral” Rating at Bank of America

Bank of America reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $119.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Westlake from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on Westlake from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.53.

Westlake Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $119.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a PE ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $103.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.33. Westlake has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $120.00.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $1.22. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The firm’s revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd were given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is presently -18.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Westlake

In other news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.92, for a total value of $1,756,916.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 44,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,484,178.36. This represents a 28.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in Westlake by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 4,386,635 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $324,348,000 after purchasing an additional 472,224 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 7,239.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $312,080,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,207 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Westlake by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $289,647,000 after purchasing an additional 477,698 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at about $160,548,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Westlake by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $139,431,000 after purchasing an additional 585,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

About Westlake

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.