Westlake Co. (WLK) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 26th

Westlake Co. (NYSE:WLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th.

Westlake has raised its dividend payment by an average of 17.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Westlake has a payout ratio of 25.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Westlake to earn $7.58 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 27.7%.

Westlake Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Westlake stock opened at $130.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $138.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.59. Westlake has a 12-month low of $118.64 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.73, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.19.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.21 by ($0.80). Westlake had a net margin of 0.81% and a return on equity of 6.93%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Westlake will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $151.00 to $159.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $160.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Westlake from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $162.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.17.

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.