Westlake Corporation Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.53 (NYSE:WLK)

Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of 0.53 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, June 11th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th.

Westlake has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Westlake has a dividend payout ratio of 41.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Westlake to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.2%.

Westlake Trading Up 0.0%

WLK stock opened at $88.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $108.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.76. Westlake has a 52 week low of $56.33 and a 52 week high of $124.23. The company has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of -6.98 and a beta of 0.67.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.77) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.67). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Westlake had a negative return on equity of 1.89% and a negative net margin of 14.91%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.31) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Westlake Company Profile

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.