Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $94.24 and last traded at $95.59, with a volume of 655277 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $102.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the subject of a number of recent 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 note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler downgraded Westlake from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $120.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Westlake from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.21.

Westlake Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $109.50 and a 200-day moving average of $122.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.18.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Westlake Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 4th. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio is 45.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WLK. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Westlake by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 98,056 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,242,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Westlake by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 236,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,098,000 after purchasing an additional 11,992 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Westlake by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,822,000 after purchasing an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Westlake by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 552,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,837,000 after purchasing an additional 23,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Westlake by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,313,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $379,933,000 after purchasing an additional 574,068 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Westlake

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.