KeyCorp Cuts West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Price Target to $325.00

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) had its price objective reduced by KeyCorp from $470.00 to $325.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the medical instruments supplier’s stock.

WST has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 7.9 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $214.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a P/E/G ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $197.01 and a fifty-two week high of $400.88. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $327.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.97.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 17.37%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $964,850,000 after buying an additional 10,060 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,019,007,000 after buying an additional 44,376 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after purchasing an additional 38,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $357,238,000 after purchasing an additional 494,828 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.