Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) Raises Dividend to $0.53 Per Share

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.533 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, September 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This is a 0.6% increase from Westlake’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53.

Westlake has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 41.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Westlake to earn $3.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.13 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.2%.

Westlake Price Performance

NYSE:WLK opened at $78.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.88 and a 200-day moving average of $93.53. Westlake has a 52 week low of $56.33 and a 52 week high of $124.23. The company has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.18. Westlake had a negative net margin of 10.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.93%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.11) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Westlake

Westlake Corp. is a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, polymers and building products, serving customers across industrial and residential markets. The company’s core operations encompass the production of vinyls—primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and its key feedstock vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)—as well as chlor-alkali products including caustic soda and chlorine. In addition, Westlake produces ethylene, propylene and specialty elastomers, along with construction-related materials such as vinyl siding, trim, windows and roofing systems.

Operating a network of vertically integrated plants and distribution centers, Westlake serves markets in North America, Europe and Asia.