Insider Selling: Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Insider Sells 8,848 Shares of Stock

Spectris plc (LON:SXS) insider Andrew Heath sold 8,848 shares of Spectris stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,532 ($32.92), for a total value of £224,031.36 ($291,252.42).

Andrew Heath also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 7th, Andrew Heath acquired 5 shares of Spectris stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 3,012 ($39.16) per share, with a total value of £150.60 ($195.79).
• On Wednesday, January 8th, Andrew Heath bought 6 shares of Spectris stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,512 ($32.66) per share, for a total transaction of £150.72 ($195.94).

Spectris Price Performance

Shares of Spectris stock traded up GBX 2 ($0.03) on Wednesday, hitting GBX 2,518 ($32.74). 177,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,316,270. Spectris plc has a 12-month low of GBX 2,370 ($30.81) and a 12-month high of GBX 3,430 ($44.59). The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37. The company has a market cap of £2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 2,800.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 2,667.46.

Spectris (LON:SXS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 148.10 ($1.93) EPS for the quarter. Spectris had a return on equity of 20.13% and a net margin of 20.44%. Analysts expect that Spectris plc will post 194.7972456 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of GBX 56.60 ($0.74) per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from Spectris’s previous dividend of $26.60. Spectris’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SXS. Berenberg Bank decreased their price target on shares of Spectris from GBX 3,180 ($41.34) to GBX 3,000 ($39.00) and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Spectris in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,765 ($48.95).

About Spectris

The experts in providing insight through precision measurement.

Our purpose is to deliver value beyond measure – going beyond just the measurement.

Precision is at the heart of what we do. Spectris provides global customers with specialist insight through our high-tech instruments and test equipment, augmented by the power of our software.

Through a combination of our hardware, analytical and simulation software, we provide our customers with superior data and invaluable insights that enable them to work faster, smarter and more efficiently.

This equips them with the ability to reduce time to market, improve processes, quality and yield.