Bank of America Upgrades Westlake (NYSE:WLK) to “Buy”

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $174.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $138.00. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.26% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on WLK. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Vertical Research lowered Westlake from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.43.

Westlake Stock Performance

WLK traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $149.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 169,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 383,925. The stock has a market cap of $19.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.52, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Westlake has a twelve month low of $103.28 and a twelve month high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.09). Westlake had a net margin of 3.82% and a return on equity of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In related news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.57, for a total value of $667,764.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,110 shares in the company, valued at $6,893,632.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.57, for a total value of $667,764.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,110 shares in the company, valued at $6,893,632.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.50, for a total value of $560,371.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Westlake by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,630,975 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $577,344,000 after acquiring an additional 96,152 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 6.6% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,803,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $454,374,000 after acquiring an additional 236,332 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Westlake by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,311,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $183,605,000 after acquiring an additional 675,725 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Westlake by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $139,097,000 after acquiring an additional 20,212 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,142,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $159,917,000 after acquiring an additional 66,614 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is 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.