West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $332.50.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 613.8% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 138,871 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $31,090,000 after purchasing an additional 119,417 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 1st quarter valued at $311,000. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 1st quarter valued at $405,000. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 1st quarter valued at $710,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $216.38 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.57. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $187.43 and a 52-week high of $355.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

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.