West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Trading Up 4.5% – Here’s Why

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) shot up 4.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $333.28 and last traded at $332.39. 188,384 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 561,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $318.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WST. Wolfe Research began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $437.75.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 25.16 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $312.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $311.84. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 17.37%. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is 12.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at $388,931.20. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,740,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $520,569,000 after buying an additional 12,850 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 683,350 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $205,114,000 after buying an additional 122,361 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $178,828,000 after buying an additional 396,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 593,692 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $195,556,000 after buying an additional 37,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.