West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Declares $0.21 Quarterly Dividend

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share by the medical instruments supplier on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th.

West Pharmaceutical Services has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.5% per year over the last three years. West Pharmaceutical Services has a payout ratio of 11.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect West Pharmaceutical Services to earn $7.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.7%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WST traded up $7.07 on Friday, hitting $210.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,882,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,170,810. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $316.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1 year low of $197.01 and a 1 year high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. Equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $344.00.

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.