Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Raised to “Buy” at Citigroup

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by equities researchers at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $140.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $152.00. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 23.55% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.83.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK stock opened at $113.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.59, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.27. Westlake has a 12-month low of $113.27 and a 12-month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Westlake by 8,400.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in Westlake in the third quarter worth about $62,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Westlake in the second quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. 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.