Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Raised to “Strong Sell” at Barclays

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by stock analysts at Barclays to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

WLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Westlake in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (down from $85.00) on shares of Westlake in a report on Monday, October 5th. Zacks Research raised Westlake from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Westlake from $104.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Westlake from $95.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.87.

Westlake Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of WLK opened at $62.28 on Monday. Westlake has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $124.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.37 and its 200-day moving average is $84.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of -6.50 and a beta of 0.69. 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 (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion during 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 period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.11) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Westlake will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, Chairman Albert Chao sold 38,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $51,610,406.40. The trade was a 5.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $240,474,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Westlake by 28.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 236,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,685,000 after buying an additional 52,551 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Westlake in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,388,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Westlake by 3.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 181,070 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $21,153,000 after acquiring an additional 6,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Westlake by 7.8% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 178,160 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $20,814,000 after acquiring an additional 12,845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK) is a global manufacturer of performance and essential materials used in construction, infrastructure, packaging, healthcare, automotive, and consumer products. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company operates through businesses focused on producing chemical building blocks, polymers, and specialty materials.

Its product portfolio includes polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlor-alkali products such as caustic soda and chlorine, polyethylene, epoxy and specialty resins, and other performance chemicals.