Barclays Begins Coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST)

Barclays began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $245.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

WST has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $219.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.77. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52 week low of $187.43 and a 52 week high of $352.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $254.19. The stock has a market cap of $15.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.47, a PEG ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its 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. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 16.13%. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 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 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 13.19%.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 146.8% during the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,573,119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $352,190,000 after buying an additional 935,721 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $290,604,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $731,747,000 after buying an additional 716,442 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $209,879,000 after buying an additional 563,705 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $357,238,000 after buying an additional 494,828 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.