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

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

WST has been the topic of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $210.98 on Wednesday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1 year low of $197.01 and a 1 year high of $400.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $323.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $312.73. The firm has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, 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 quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 3.00.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the 4th 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 increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% during the 4th 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. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after buying an additional 266,488 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after buying an additional 38,757 shares during the period. 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.