West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.27 EPS

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27, Briefing.com reports. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The business had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. West Pharmaceutical Services updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.630-7.880 EPS.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded down $7.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $360.91. 253,767 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,404. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $377.67 and its 200 day moving average is $364.29. The stock has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a PE ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12 month low of $310.42 and a 12 month high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.15%.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WST shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

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.