West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives $332.50 Consensus PT from Analysts

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $332.50.

WST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Stephens upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 626 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,926 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 239 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 711 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of WST stock opened at $216.38 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $214.89 and a 200 day moving average of $275.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $15.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.34, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. West Pharmaceutical Services has a twelve month low of $187.43 and a twelve month high of $356.14.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.19%.

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.