Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Stock Price

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $350.00 to $355.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $437.75.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $330.05 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $265.00 and a fifty-two week high of $413.70. The company has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.97, a P/E/G ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $312.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $311.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 3.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $746.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $178,828,000 after purchasing an additional 396,780 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter valued at $68,854,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 2nd quarter worth $64,196,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 683,350 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $205,114,000 after buying an additional 122,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 444,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $133,271,000 after buying an additional 101,710 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.