West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the medical instruments supplier on Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st.

West Pharmaceutical Services has increased its dividend by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. West Pharmaceutical Services has a dividend payout ratio of 8.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect West Pharmaceutical Services to earn $9.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.8%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST opened at $368.18 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $377.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $364.29. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.62 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WST shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.20.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products.