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

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.75.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:WST opened at $324.25 on Tuesday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a one year low of $265.00 and a one year high of $409.72. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $332.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $314.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $225,851,000 after purchasing an additional 676,167 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $209,879,000 after buying an additional 563,705 shares during the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,379,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $178,828,000 after acquiring an additional 396,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $72,646,000. Institutional investors 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.