West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Issues Earnings Results

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.29% and a net margin of 19.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.630-7.880 EPS.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 2.1 %

WST opened at $360.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $377.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $364.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12 month low of $310.42 and a 12 month high of $415.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 10.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.20.

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.