West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $219.62 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $197.01 and a 1-year high of $400.88. The firm has a market cap of $15.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $309.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $309.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. On average, analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,670 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 25,700 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,418,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 632,307 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $207,119,000 after buying an additional 21,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,564 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% 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.