Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Westlake from $92.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $80.00 target price on Westlake in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Westlake in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.80.

Westlake Stock Down 2.8%

WLK stock opened at $100.25 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.57, a PEG ratio of 51.89 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.61. Westlake has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $114.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $1.22. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.22% and a negative net margin of 13.50%.The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is -18.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 40,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.57, for a total value of $3,004,304.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 627,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,181,507.54. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Westlake by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 4,386,635 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $324,348,000 after acquiring an additional 472,224 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Westlake by 7,239.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,220,717 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $312,080,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,207 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Westlake by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,917,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $289,647,000 after purchasing an additional 477,698 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Westlake during the fourth quarter worth $160,548,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Westlake by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,885,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $139,431,000 after buying an additional 585,438 shares during the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Westlake

Here are the key news stories impacting Westlake this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $124 and put a Buy rating on WLK, implying roughly a 23.7% upside versus the current price. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: UBS bumped its target to $129 and reiterated a Buy rating, implying ~28.7% upside from the current price. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: BMO Capital kept a Hold rating and $108 target, signaling balanced risk/reward despite cost-saving upside and a stronger Q4 EPS performance. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its target to $100 and set an Equal Weight rating (essentially neutral relative to current levels). Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Mizuho lifted its target to $97 and kept a Neutral rating, signaling limited near-term upside per that analyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Westlake reported Q4 results that beat EPS estimates but showed a quarterly loss, a revenue miss, and weaker volumes/pricing — factors that pressure near-term margins and likely explain investor caution. WLK Q4 Earnings Beat, Sales Miss

Westlake Company Profile

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.