Barclays Initiates Coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST)

Barclays started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Free Report) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $245.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier's stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WST. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stephens upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $320.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 2.8%

WST stock traded up $6.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $222.85. 575,587 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 882,543. West Pharmaceutical Services has a one year low of $187.43 and a one year high of $352.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.77. The company has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a PE ratio of 34.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $213.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $255.36.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 16.13%. The business had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services's revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,231,721 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $2,066,798,000 after purchasing an additional 244,259 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $731,747,000 after buying an additional 716,442 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 44,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 38,757 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.