Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at KeyCorp

KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Westlake (NYSE:WLK) in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $92.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Westlake’s Q3 2026 earnings at $1.09 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.56 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.90 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $2.55 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $2.70 EPS.

WLK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Westlake from $104.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.79.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $70.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of -7.39 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Westlake has a twelve month low of $56.33 and a twelve month high of $124.23.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.11) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $0.533 per share. This represents a $2.13 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -22.23%.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other Westlake news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.28, for a total value of $3,120,724.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 642,880 shares in the company, valued at $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WLK. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Westlake during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Westlake in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Westlake in the third quarter valued at $53,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 49.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 58.1% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corporation is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company produces chemicals, polymers and building products used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, consumer goods and other industrial applications.

Its Performance and Essential Materials businesses manufacture products such as chlor-alkali chemicals, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene, epoxy resins and related specialty materials.