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

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

Westlake has increased its dividend payment by an average of 21.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Westlake has a 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 WLK opened at $109.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Westlake has a 52 week low of $108.56 and a 52 week high of $162.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.48. The stock has a market cap of $14.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 154.48, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Westlake in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Westlake from $171.00 to $165.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Westlake from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Westlake currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the firm’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 value of $225,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,758.72. This trade represents a 18.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

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.