West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $320.00.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WST shares. Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WST. Durable Capital Partners LP grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 146.8% during the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,573,119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $352,190,000 after buying an additional 935,721 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $290,604,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $731,747,000 after buying an additional 716,442 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $209,879,000 after buying an additional 563,705 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $357,238,000 after buying an additional 494,828 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST opened at $218.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $251.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $352.33.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 18.23%. The business had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.19%.

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.