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

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Investors 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 dividend yield of 1.91%.

Westlake has raised its dividend by an average of 21.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 22.4% meaning 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 Down 1.5 %

Shares of WLK stock traded down $1.72 on Friday, reaching $109.68. 802,581 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 585,640. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.12 billion, a PE ratio of 154.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17. Westlake has a 52 week low of $108.56 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. The trade was a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 74.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WLK. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.79.

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.