Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 8th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of 0.53 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, September 4th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a 12.4% increase from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47.
Westlake has a payout ratio of 41.1% meaning 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 3.7%
NYSE WLK traded down $3.01 on Friday, hitting $79.06. 1,230,702 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,022,596. The company has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -149.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.91 and a 200 day moving average of $91.74. Westlake has a twelve month low of $68.55 and a twelve month high of $153.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.
Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3 billion. Westlake had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a positive return on equity of 1.26%. Westlake's quarterly revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tudor Pickering upgraded Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered Westlake from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Westlake from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Westlake from $110.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Westlake from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.93.
View Our Latest Analysis on WLK
About Westlake
(
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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.
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