Man Group plc Acquires Shares of 34,669 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

Key Points

• Man Group acquired 34,669 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter, valued at approximately $12.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 93.9% of WST’s outstanding stock.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.08; several firms recently raised targets or initiated outperform ratings.
• West Pharmaceutical Services exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.37 in EPS and $872.3 million in revenue, up 13.8% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing a 0.3% yield.

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 34,669 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock, valued at approximately $12,446,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth $2,387,990,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth about $733,733,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth about $728,168,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth about $272,041,000. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,196,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WST. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $310.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Monday, June 1st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $375.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $346.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 2.82. The stock's fifty day moving average is $350.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.15. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $223.83 and a fifty-two week high of $386.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $872.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.98 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 16.98%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.140-2.240 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.850-9.050 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. West Pharmaceutical Services's payout ratio is 11.27%.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a global developer and manufacturer of components, systems and services that enable the containment and delivery of injectable drugs. The company focuses on high-quality packaging and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing primary drug packaging components and specialized drug delivery devices used for vaccines, biologics and other injectable therapies. West is known for its elastomeric closures, seals and polymer components that maintain sterility and compatibility with sensitive drug formulations.

In addition to component manufacturing, West provides engineered delivery systems and support services across the product lifecycle.

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