West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Stock Has Average Price Target of $382.00 According to Brokerages

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $382.00.

Several brokerages have weighed in on WST. UBS Group upped their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $340.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 9th.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $370.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 2.82. The company has a market capitalization of $26.08 billion, a PE ratio of 47.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $350.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $223.83 and a fifty-two week high of $386.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $872.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $839.98 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 16.98%.West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.140-2.240 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.850-9.050 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 8.93 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Annette Favorite sold 8,135 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.81, for a total transaction of $2,772,489.35. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 16,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,740,944.45. This trade represents a 32.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 15,659 shares of company stock worth $5,443,749 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter worth $2,387,990,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter valued at about $733,733,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter valued at about $728,168,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth about $272,041,000. Finally, Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter worth about $214,196,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc (NYSE: WST) develops and manufactures components and systems used to package, contain and deliver injectable medicines and other healthcare products. Its customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, which use West products in drug administration and medical applications.

The company’s offerings include elastomer components such as stoppers, plungers and seals; syringe and cartridge components; vial and container closure systems; and specialized delivery systems for injectable and other complex medicines.