Insider Buying: Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Insider Acquires 4 Shares of Stock

Spectris plc (LON:SXS - Get Free Report) insider Derek Harding acquired 4 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 3,298 ($41.43) per share, with a total value of £131.92 ($165.73).

Derek Harding also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, April 5th, Derek Harding sold 1,909 shares of Spectris stock. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 3,201 ($40.21), for a total value of £61,107.09 ($76,767.70).

Spectris Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of SXS stock traded down GBX 16 ($0.20) during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting GBX 3,314 ($41.63). 176,742 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 234,835. The stock's fifty day moving average is GBX 3,280.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 3,425.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.76, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Spectris plc has a 52-week low of GBX 2,917 ($36.65) and a 52-week high of GBX 3,883.85 ($48.79). The stock has a market cap of £3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,367.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a GBX 53.90 ($0.68) dividend. This represents a yield of 1.49%. This is an increase from Spectris's previous dividend of $25.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Spectris's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5,642.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Shore Capital cut Spectris to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Spectris to a "sell" rating and set a GBX 8,500 ($106.78) price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a GBX 4,250 ($53.39) target price on shares of Spectris in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Berenberg Bank reduced their price target on shares of Spectris from GBX 3,780 ($47.49) to GBX 3,520 ($44.22) and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Numis Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a GBX 4,435 ($55.72) price objective on shares of Spectris in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spectris has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of GBX 6,078.33 ($76.36).

Spectris Company Profile

Spectris plc provides precision measurement solutions worldwide. It operates through Spectris Scientific, Spectris Dynamics, and Other segments. The Spectris Scientific segment provides advanced sensors and instruments used to measure, analyze, and characterize materials; and monitor ultra-clean manufacturing environments.