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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date 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 every year for the last 1 years. West Pharmaceutical Services has a dividend payout ratio of 8.8% indicating that 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 Stock Down 2.1 %

WST stock traded down $7.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $360.43. The stock had a trading volume of 599,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,190. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.74, a P/E/G 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 company's 50 day moving average is $377.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $364.13.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million for 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%. The company's revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WST. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $435.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $55,023,943.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 valued at $26,653,772 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.