Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $115.00 and last traded at $115.54, with a volume of 941106 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $117.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Westlake presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.83.

Westlake Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 162.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.16.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Westlake Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Westlake Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. Westlake’s payout ratio is 295.77%.

Insider Activity at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 74.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Westlake

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake during the 2nd quarter worth $544,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Westlake in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,179,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Westlake by 89.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,194 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,400,000 after acquiring an additional 20,913 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Westlake by 134.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,612 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 4,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Westlake in the second quarter valued at approximately $513,000. 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.