West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $437.75.

WST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $332.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $312.15. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52 week low of $265.00 and a 52 week high of $413.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 3.00. The company has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 49.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.00.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors 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 payout ratio is presently 12.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 34,259 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,828 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 108.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,926 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,620,000 after buying an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 742 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.