Royal Bank of Canada Increases Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target to $153.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $134.00 to $153.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $138.00 to $174.00 in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on Westlake from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Westlake from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Westlake from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.79.

Westlake Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $149.57. 111,240 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 384,533. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $146.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.09. Westlake has a 12 month low of $103.28 and a 12 month high of $162.64.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,893,632.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Westlake news, CFO Mark Steven Bender sold 4,854 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,893,632.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert F. Buesinger sold 3,878 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,055,308. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,658 shares of company stock worth $1,923,225 in the last quarter. 74.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,803,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $454,374,000 after buying an additional 236,332 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,311,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $183,605,000 after buying an additional 675,725 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,164,284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $139,097,000 after buying an additional 20,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,142,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $159,917,000 after buying an additional 66,614 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

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.