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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.21 per share by the medical instruments supplier on Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th.

West Pharmaceutical Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.4% annually over the last three years. West Pharmaceutical Services has a payout ratio of 9.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect West Pharmaceutical Services to earn $7.52 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 11.2%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded down $3.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $340.07. The company had a trading volume of 410,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 427,061. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $329.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.68. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $265.00 and a fifty-two week high of $413.70. The firm has a market cap of $24.63 billion, a PE ratio of 50.46, a P/E/G ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on WST shares. Citigroup started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.20.

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.