West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $349.20.

WST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $311.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. Rothschild Redb upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, October 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WST. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 18.1% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,636 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,450 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $5,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,879 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,757 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,528,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,796 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $16,521,000 after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.3% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,901,000 after buying an additional 929 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $277.36 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $270.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.14. The stock has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a PE ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.87. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $187.43 and a fifty-two week high of $348.90.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.29. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 16.29%.The company had revenue of $804.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $788.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.85 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.060-7.110 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.