Westlake Co. (WLK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.53 on September 5th

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date 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 increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Westlake has a payout ratio of 22.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $146.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a P/E 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $145.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.96. Westlake has a 52 week low of $112.77 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. Westlake’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WLK. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Westlake in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com lowered Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Westlake from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Thursday, August 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Westlake currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.