Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Westlake (NYSE:WLK)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $158.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.45% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on WLK. Bank of America raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.85.

Westlake Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE WLK opened at $149.83 on Friday. Westlake has a 1-year low of $107.34 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 75.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $154.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.33.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.25. Westlake had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 7.69%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.05 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.19, for a total transaction of $753,340.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 40,356 shares in the company, valued at $6,141,779.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 64,811 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,071,000 after buying an additional 10,687 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 79.2% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 12,900 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,805,000 after buying an additional 5,700 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,492,000. Aviva PLC increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 66.8% during the third quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 119,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $14,883,000 after buying an additional 47,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Westlake by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 15,309 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,143,000 after buying an additional 4,966 shares in 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.