West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WST. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $222.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $307.63 and its 200-day moving average is $308.52. The stock has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $197.01 and a 52-week high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 12.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 39,466.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,114 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,838,000 after acquiring an additional 26,048 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,553 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 27,611 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $8,513,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,511 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

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.