West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WST. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $311.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Rothschild Redb upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $343.36.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 4.1%

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $268.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $273.87 and a 200-day moving average of $248.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.18. West Pharmaceutical Services has a one year low of $187.43 and a one year high of $348.90.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.29. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 16.29%.The firm had revenue of $804.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $788.42 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.060-7.110 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,704,948 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,545,899,000 after buying an additional 388,144 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,271,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $715,884,000 after acquiring an additional 68,330 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.2% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,770,920 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $726,895,000 after acquiring an additional 503,601 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 146.8% in the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,573,119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $352,190,000 after purchasing an additional 935,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,562,139 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $323,766,000 after purchasing an additional 124,737 shares during the period. 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.