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

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has 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 updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $332.50.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WST shares. KeyCorp reduced 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,020 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,348,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,134,706 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $254,038,000 after acquiring an additional 343,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 613.8% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 138,871 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $31,090,000 after acquiring an additional 119,417 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of WST opened at $227.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.16. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $352.33. The stock has a market cap of $16.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is 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.