West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Upgraded to Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $390.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their prior price target of $350.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of WST opened at $330.05 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $312.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $311.73. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12-month low of $265.00 and a 12-month high of $413.70. The stock has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 48.97, a PEG ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.35. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $746.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $709.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.25%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.46%.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total value of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,931.20. The trade was a 35.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WST. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.6% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 100,291 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $30,103,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,750,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,794,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 80.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,536,000. 93.90% of the stock is 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.