West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

WST has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $447.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.17.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

WST stock opened at $392.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 2.12. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1 year low of $223.83 and a 1 year high of $397.15. The company has a market cap of $27.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $362.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.18.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $872.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $839.98 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 16.98%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 8.92 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 11th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 11.27%.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Annette Favorite sold 2,524 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $921,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 21,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,963,570. This represents a 10.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 15,659 shares of company stock valued at $5,443,749 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WST. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter worth $2,387,990,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,348,698 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,202,183,000 after buying an additional 54,920 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $733,733,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $728,168,000. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,196,000. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc develops and manufactures components and delivery systems used in the administration and packaging of injectable medicines and other healthcare products. Its offerings include elastomer closures, seals, syringe components, drug-delivery systems, and other specialized packaging components designed to support the safety, quality, and performance of pharmaceutical products.

The company also provides contract-manufacturing services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical-device customers.