West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Coverage Initiated at Wolfe Research

Equities researchers at Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a “peer perform” rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

Separately, UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $437.75.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.5 %

WST stock opened at $330.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 48.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $312.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $311.73. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $265.00 and a fifty-two week high of $413.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This trade represents a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 100,291 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $30,103,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,794,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 80.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,153,000 after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter valued at about $1,536,000. 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.