Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) Raises Dividend to $0.53 Per Share

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of 0.525 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 20th. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Westlake has raised its dividend payment by an average of 17.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Westlake has a payout ratio of 22.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Westlake to earn $8.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.8%.

Westlake Price Performance

Westlake stock opened at $146.72 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $148.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.73, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a 52-week low of $112.77 and a 52-week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.41. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. Westlake’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WLK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.50.

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.