Andrew Heath Sells 8,848 Shares of Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Stock

Spectris plc (LON:SXS) insider Andrew Heath sold 8,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,532 ($32.92), for a total transaction of £224,031.36 ($291,252.42).

Andrew Heath also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 7th, Andrew Heath purchased 5 shares of Spectris stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 3,012 ($39.16) per share, with a total value of £150.60 ($195.79).
• On Wednesday, January 8th, Andrew Heath bought 6 shares of Spectris stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 2,512 ($32.66) per share, with a total value of £150.72 ($195.94).

Spectris Stock Performance

Shares of Spectris stock traded up GBX 2 ($0.03) during trading on Wednesday, hitting GBX 2,518 ($32.74). 177,387 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,316,270. Spectris plc has a 1 year low of GBX 2,370 ($30.81) and a 1 year high of GBX 3,430 ($44.59). The business has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 2,800.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 2,667.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of £2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.61.

Spectris (LON:SXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 148.10 ($1.93) EPS for the quarter. Spectris had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 20.13%. As a group, analysts forecast that Spectris plc will post 194.7972456 EPS for the current year.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of GBX 56.60 ($0.74) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a boost from Spectris’s previous dividend of $26.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Spectris’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SXS shares. Berenberg Bank cut their target price on Spectris from GBX 3,180 ($41.34) to GBX 3,000 ($39.00) and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Spectris in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spectris currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,765 ($48.95).

About Spectris

The experts in providing insight through precision measurement.

Our purpose is to deliver value beyond measure – going beyond just the measurement.

Precision is at the heart of what we do. Spectris provides global customers with specialist insight through our high-tech instruments and test equipment, augmented by the power of our software.

Through a combination of our hardware, analytical and simulation software, we provide our customers with superior data and invaluable insights that enable them to work faster, smarter and more efficiently.

This equips them with the ability to reduce time to market, improve processes, quality and yield.