Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Stock Price

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $170.00 to $167.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 24.62% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on WLK. Bank of America raised Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $151.00 to $159.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.67.

Westlake Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WLK opened at $134.01 on Monday. Westlake has a 1 year low of $118.64 and a 1 year high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $140.27 and a 200 day moving average of $146.06. The stock has a market cap of $17.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 188.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.19.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Westlake will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Westlake in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Westlake by 8,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 340 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake in the third quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Westlake by 66.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 28.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.