Westlake Chemical (NYSE:WLK – Get Rating) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.
Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $110.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Westlake Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $112.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Westlake Chemical from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Westlake Chemical from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake Chemical currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.00.
WLK stock opened at $111.94 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.01. The stock has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.76, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.38. Westlake Chemical has a fifty-two week low of $78.06 and a fifty-two week high of $112.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.
Westlake Chemical (NYSE:WLK – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 21st. The specialty chemicals company reported $4.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.53 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $3.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. Westlake Chemical had a return on equity of 20.75% and a net margin of 14.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 78.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake Chemical will post 15.43 EPS for the current year.
In related news, CAO Johnathan Stevan Zoeller sold 1,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.39, for a total transaction of $111,052.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 73.70% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in Westlake Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Westlake Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Wahed Invest LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Berman Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Westlake Chemical by 92.4% in the third quarter. Berman Capital Advisors LLC now owns 429 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Westlake Chemical in the third quarter valued at $41,000. 26.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Westlake Chemical (Get Rating)
Westlake Chemical Corp. manufactures and markets petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated building products. It operates through the following segments: Olefins and Vinyls. The Olefins segment manufactures ethylene, polyethylene and styrene and associated co-products at the manufacturing facility in Lake Charles and polyethylene at the Longview facility.