Bank of America Upgrades Westlake (NYSE:WLK) to “Buy”

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) was upgraded by stock analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $84.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $87.00. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 21.56% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on WLK. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $78.00 price objective on Westlake in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $98.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $90.00 price objective on Westlake and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.43.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of WLK opened at $69.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a PE ratio of -130.37 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.95. Westlake has a 52-week low of $65.77 and a 52-week high of $139.59.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.47). Westlake had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a positive return on equity of 1.26%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Westlake

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Westlake by 17.7% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,900,025 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $390,120,000 after purchasing an additional 586,178 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in Westlake by 246.0% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 1,456,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,851 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Westlake during the second quarter worth approximately $104,314,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Westlake by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,041,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $104,150,000 after purchasing an additional 102,268 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Westlake by 366.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 901,229 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $90,150,000 after buying an additional 708,142 shares in the last quarter. 28.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.