Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.47

Key Points

• Westlake Corp. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4714 per share, set to be paid on August 27th, with a projected annualized yield of 2.37%.
• The company's recent earnings report showed a net income miss, with an EPS of ($0.31) against a consensus estimate of $0.70, and revenue declined 4.3% year-over-year.
• Equities analysts have mixed ratings on Westlake, with target prices varying from $76 to $122, reflecting diverse sentiment on its stock performance.

Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of 0.4714 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Wednesday, August 27th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%.

Westlake has a payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Down 4.8%

Shares of WLK traded down $3.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.51. 1,039,430 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 997,940. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.03. Westlake has a twelve month low of $68.55 and a twelve month high of $153.34. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 19.66 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($1.01). Westlake had a return on equity of 4.19% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WLK. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Westlake from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $101.00 to $99.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Westlake from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Westlake from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.77.

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.