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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend 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% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 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 Down 4.5 %

Shares of WST opened at $368.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12-month low of $310.42 and a 12-month high of $415.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $377.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $364.29.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.43 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last 90 days. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

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.