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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st.

West Pharmaceutical Services has raised 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 payout ratio of 8.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Price Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $368.18 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a PE ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a one year low of $310.42 and a one year high of $415.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $377.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.29.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their target price on 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 cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.