Morgan Stanley Cuts Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target to $130.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

WLK has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays upgraded Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.85.

Westlake Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE WLK opened at $116.82 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 164.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a 12-month low of $108.95 and a 12-month high of $162.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.03.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of Westlake stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $227,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,239,420. The trade was a 15.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WLK. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Westlake by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,198,710 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $180,154,000 after buying an additional 9,838 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Westlake by 699.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 595,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,445,000 after acquiring an additional 520,669 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Westlake by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,837,000 after acquiring an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Westlake by 90.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 386,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after purchasing an additional 183,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP purchased a new position in Westlake in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,542,000. 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.