West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.21

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Stockholders 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 a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services has raised its dividend by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years and has raised 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 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 Price Performance

Shares of WST opened at $330.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 47.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $265.00 and a 52-week high of $413.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $300.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.34.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.34. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 19.17% and a net margin of 18.25%. The business had revenue of $746.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 1,029 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $308,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,478 shares in the company, valued at $443,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.