Westlake’s (WLK) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Wells Fargo & Company

Westlake (NYSE:WLK)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reissued by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $76.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $95.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 3.10% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WLK. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $135.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $122.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Westlake from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Westlake from $122.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.54.

Westlake Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $73.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.51. Westlake has a 1 year low of $73.63 and a 1 year high of $161.31. The company has a market cap of $9.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.83, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 247.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 251.1% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 316 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Westlake by 127.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 427 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Westlake by 1,668.2% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.