West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Expected to Earn Q3 2024 Earnings of $2.19 Per Share

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) – Stock analysts at William Blair upped their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note issued on Thursday, April 25th. William Blair analyst M. Larew now forecasts that the medical instruments supplier will post earnings of $2.19 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $2.11. The consensus estimate for West Pharmaceutical Services’ current full-year earnings is $7.65 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services’ Q4 2024 earnings at $2.21 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $9.11 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WST. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on 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. KeyCorp boosted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of WST opened at $357.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16, a P/E/G ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week high of $415.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $377.48 and its 200-day moving average is $363.56.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.98 EPS.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders 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 presently 10.55%.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 778 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% during the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Peninsula Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Peninsula Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,580 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,373,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.