West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $435.20.

WST has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 in the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,002,632 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,170,007,000 after acquiring an additional 104,740 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,105,589 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $741,420,000 after purchasing an additional 28,010 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,961,063 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $690,530,000 after purchasing an additional 369,792 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,414,431 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $498,049,000 after buying an additional 109,369 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $300,250,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $365.02 on Wednesday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $377.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $363.10. The company has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 48.16, a P/E/G ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 20.57%. The business had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.98 earnings per share. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.55%.

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.