West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Increases Dividend to $0.21 Per Share

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share by the medical instruments supplier on Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This is an increase from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services has increased 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 31 years. West Pharmaceutical Services has a dividend payout ratio of 10.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect West Pharmaceutical Services to earn $7.54 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 10.6%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $330.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.03, a PEG ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $300.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.86. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52 week low of $265.00 and a 52 week high of $413.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.22). West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 19.17%. The company had revenue of $702.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $729.36 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 1,029 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $308,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,478 shares in the company, valued at $443,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.