Westlake Co. (WLK) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 4th

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th.

Westlake has raised its dividend payment by an average of 21.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 25.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Westlake to earn $7.44 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 28.2%.

Westlake Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of WLK stock opened at $112.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.30, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.43. Westlake has a 52-week low of $104.74 and a 52-week high of $162.64.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.98). The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on WLK. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $175.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Westlake from $160.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Westlake from $130.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.07.

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.