Man Group plc Takes Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 34,669 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $12,446,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth about $2,934,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,576,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,350,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,282,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $176,138,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Monday, June 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $375.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $310.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.9%

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $346.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $223.83 and a twelve month high of $386.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $350.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $303.37.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.29. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 16.98% and a return on equity of 20.11%. The firm had revenue of $872.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $839.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.140-2.240 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.850-9.050 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 29th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 11.27%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Profile

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a global developer and manufacturer of components, systems and services that enable the containment and delivery of injectable drugs. The company focuses on high-quality packaging and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing primary drug packaging components and specialized drug delivery devices used for vaccines, biologics and other injectable therapies. West is known for its elastomeric closures, seals and polymer components that maintain sterility and compatibility with sensitive drug formulations.

In addition to component manufacturing, West provides engineered delivery systems and support services across the product lifecycle.