Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.53

Key Points

• Westlake Corp. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, reflecting a 12.4% increase from the previous dividend of $0.47, with an annual yield of 2.7%.
• Despite the dividend increase, Westlake's stock price fell 3.7% to $79.06, impacted by its recent quarterly earnings miss where it reported a loss of ($0.09) per share.
• Equities analysts have mixed ratings for Westlake, with one strong buy, eight buys, a hold, and a sell, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.93.

Westlake Corp. (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 8th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.53 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, September 4th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This is a 12.4% increase from Westlake's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47.

Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 4.9%

NYSE WLK traded up $3.86 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $83.03. 230,881 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,018,695. The stock has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -156.48, a P/E/G ratio of 79.08 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Westlake has a one year low of $68.55 and a one year high of $153.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.73.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

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.