Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.25 EPS

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.25, Briefing.com reports. Westlake had a return on equity of 7.69% and a net margin of 2.13%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.05 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Westlake Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $152.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $148.47 and a 200-day moving average of $138.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $19.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.53, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.30. Westlake has a 1-year low of $103.28 and a 1-year high of $162.64.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Westlake’s payout ratio is 100.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares in the company, valued at $3,055,308. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,804 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.02, for a total transaction of $677,460.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,389,052.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total transaction of $560,371.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,658 shares of company stock valued at $1,923,225 over the last ninety days. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company 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 report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered shares of Westlake from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.79.

Westlake Company Profile

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.