West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp lowered 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 note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $202.66 on Wednesday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12-month low of $197.01 and a 12-month high of $400.88. The company has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $321.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $311.96.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 18.62%. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. On average, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 23,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.