Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.80 EPS

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Westlake had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share.

Westlake Price Performance

WLK traded up $4.62 on Wednesday, hitting $137.17. 1,317,608 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 439,817. Westlake has a fifty-two week low of $118.64 and a fifty-two week high of $162.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $140.85 and its 200 day moving average is $146.37.

Westlake Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is a boost from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Westlake’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Westlake from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com cut Westlake from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Westlake in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

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.