Westlake Chemical Corporation (WLK) will raise its quarterly dividend by 2.9 percent to 27 cents per share in 2020. This follows a 5.0 percent dividend hike to $0.2625 per share in 2019 and marks the 15th consecutive year of annual dividend increases by the global manufacturer and marketer of basic chemicals, vinyls, polymers and building products.

The next dividend will be payable on September 9, 2020, to stockholders of record on August 25, 2020. A new annualized dividend rate of $1.08 per share yields 1.8% at a stock price of $60.97.

In today's press release the company states that this is the 64th successive quarterly dividend that Westlake has declared since completing its initial public offering in August 2004. Between 2010 and 2018 the company announced double digit dividend hikes every year, except for 2016 when the dividend was raised by 5.0 percent.

Including this latest dividend hike Westlake Chemical has increased its dividend by an average of 8.3 percent annually over the last five years. The company pays approximately $138 million in dividends to shareholders annually. This compares to a current market cap of $7.8 billion with the stock price down 13.1 percent year-to-date.

Westlake Chemical Corporation is a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, chlor-alkali and derivative products, PVC suspension and specialty resins, PVC Compounds, and PVC building products including siding, pipe, fittings and specialty components, windows, fence, deck and film. The company's operating segments are Olefins and Vinyls. Westlake Chemical began operations in 1986 after its first polyethylene plant, an Olefins segment business, near Lake Charles, Louisiana was acquired from Occidental Petroleum Corporation. The company has paid a dividend every year since completing its initial public offering in August 2004.