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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given 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 increased its dividend by an average of 21.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 22.4% 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 Performance

Shares of NYSE:WLK traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $109.68. 802,578 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,723. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.74. The firm has a market cap of $14.12 billion, a PE ratio of 154.48, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake has a 52 week low of $108.56 and a 52 week high of $162.64.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total transaction of $225,890.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Westlake from $155.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.79.

Westlake Company Profile

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.