Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $124.00 to $130.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Westlake traded as high as $113.48 and last traded at $113.4340, with a volume of 422616 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $107.03.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Alembic Global Advisors set a $80.00 price target on Westlake in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $82.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Westlake from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total transaction of $3,004,304.52. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 627,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,181,507.54. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 17,409 shares of Westlake 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,484,178.36. The trade was a 28.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,715 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,750,000 after purchasing an additional 17,689 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Westlake by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 213,157 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,761,000 after purchasing an additional 78,458 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,457,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new stake in Westlake during the fourth quarter worth approximately $665,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its position in Westlake by 158.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 12,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after buying an additional 7,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.77 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.65.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $1.22. The business 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 company’s revenue was down 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Westlake Corporation will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -18.12%.

Westlake Company Profile

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.