Westlake Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.53 (NYSE:WLK)

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th.

Westlake has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 25.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Westlake to earn $7.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

Westlake Price Performance

Shares of WLK stock opened at $130.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.19. 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 twelve month low of $118.64 and a twelve month high of $162.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.59.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued 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 return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WLK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America upgraded Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Westlake has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.17.

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.