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

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders 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 is Tuesday, November 26th.

Westlake has increased its dividend by an average of 17.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Westlake has a payout ratio of 25.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WLK opened at $130.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $138.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.59. Westlake has a 1-year low of $118.64 and a 1-year high of $162.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 183.73, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.19.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. Westlake’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Westlake presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.