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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 20th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the medical instruments supplier on Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd.

West Pharmaceutical Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 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

NYSE WST opened at $372.04 on Monday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a one year low of $310.42 and a one year high of $415.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $378.56 and a 200 day moving average of $364.01. The company has a market capitalization of $27.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.21, a PEG ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 147 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 246 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $68,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WST. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp increased 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.