Brokerages Set West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) PT at $332.50

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $332.50.

WST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST opened at $225.79 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $270.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.75, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12-month low of $197.01 and a 12-month high of $397.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $964,850,000 after purchasing an additional 10,060 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,019,007,000 after purchasing an additional 44,376 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $835,945,000 after purchasing an additional 266,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after purchasing an additional 38,757 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

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.