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

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $332.50.

A number of research firms have recently commented on WST. Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,124,000 after acquiring an additional 23,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,195 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $226.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $266.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $298.43. The firm has a market cap of $16.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12 month low of $197.01 and a 12 month high of $397.72.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. On average, analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.56%.

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.