West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $435.20.

Several analysts have issued reports on WST shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST traded up $7.91 on Friday, hitting $394.03. 242,265 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 434,881. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88. The business's fifty day moving average is $380.24 and its 200 day moving average is $363.54. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week high of $415.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The company had revenue of $732.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 97 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.4% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 147 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 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.