Analysts Set Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Price Target at $162.67

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $162.17.

Several research firms have recently commented on WLK. Mizuho began coverage on Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upgraded Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 24,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,742,000 after buying an additional 3,710 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,179,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Westlake during the 1st quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 89.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,400,000 after buying an additional 20,913 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $126.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.39, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. Westlake has a fifty-two week low of $118.64 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.