StockNews.com Upgrades West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) to Buy

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $420.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 2.0 %

WST opened at $320.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.70 billion, a PE ratio of 43.31, a PEG ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $206.99 and a 1-year high of $415.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $384.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $372.97.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 26th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $747.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $750.31 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 19.11% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, insider Cindy Reiss-Clark sold 3,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.34, for a total transaction of $1,367,643.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,320 shares in the company, valued at $1,699,228.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 2,000 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.64, for a total value of $829,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,168,599.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cindy Reiss-Clark sold 3,477 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.34, for a total transaction of $1,367,643.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,699,228.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,752 shares of company stock worth $22,713,817. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 91.23% of the company’s stock.

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.