Westlake Chemical Partners LP (WLKP) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 10th

Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE:WLKP) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 0.4714 per share by the basic materials company on Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $1.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th.

Westlake Chemical Partners has a payout ratio of 93.1% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Analysts expect Westlake Chemical Partners to earn $1.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.89 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 99.0%.

Westlake Chemical Partners Trading Up 0.6 %

Westlake Chemical Partners stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $22.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,874. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.14. The stock has a market cap of $778.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 3.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Westlake Chemical Partners has a 1-year low of $20.86 and a 1-year high of $23.68.

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). Westlake Chemical Partners had a net margin of 4.56% and a return on equity of 6.25%. The company had revenue of $297.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.62 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Westlake Chemical Partners will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Westlake Chemical Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Andrew Kenner acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.30 per share, with a total value of $111,500.00. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 141,609 shares in the company, valued at $3,157,880.70. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 24,230 shares of company stock valued at $537,587 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Westlake Chemical Partners Company Profile

Westlake Chemical Partners LP acquires, develops, and operates ethylene production facilities and related assets in the United States. The company's ethylene production facilities primarily convert ethane into ethylene. It also sells ethylene co-products, such as propylene, crude butadiene, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrogen directly to third parties on either a spot or contract basis.