Derek Harding Sells 22,577 Shares of Spectris plc (LON:SXS) Stock

Spectris plc (LON:SXS) insider Derek Harding sold 22,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,420 ($31.32), for a total transaction of £546,363.40 ($707,174.99).

Derek Harding also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 7th, Derek Harding bought 6 shares of Spectris stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,667 ($34.52) per share, for a total transaction of £160.02 ($207.12).

Spectris Stock Performance

LON:SXS opened at GBX 2,382 ($30.83) on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 2,775.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 2,646.02. Spectris plc has a 1-year low of GBX 2,366 ($30.62) and a 1-year high of GBX 3,430 ($44.40). The stock has a market cap of £2.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.61.

Spectris (LON:SXS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported GBX 148.10 ($1.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Spectris had a net margin of 20.44% and a return on equity of 20.13%. Research analysts anticipate that Spectris plc will post 194.7972456 earnings per share for the current year.

Spectris Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a GBX 56.60 ($0.73) dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is an increase from Spectris’s previous dividend of $26.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Spectris’s payout ratio is presently 30.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on SXS. Berenberg Bank reduced their price target on Spectris from GBX 3,180 ($41.16) to GBX 3,000 ($38.83) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Spectris in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spectris has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 3,765 ($48.73).

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.