West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. Forecasted to Earn Q2 2024 Earnings of $1.97 Per Share (NYSE:WST)

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) – Research analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q2 2024 earnings per share estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services in a report issued on Monday, April 15th. Zacks Research analyst I. Bandyopadhyay now expects that the medical instruments supplier will earn $1.97 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.96. The consensus estimate for West Pharmaceutical Services’ current full-year earnings is $7.62 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services’ Q3 2024 earnings at $2.11 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $2.44 EPS.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WST. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.6 %

WST traded down $2.12 on Wednesday, reaching $377.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 355,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 512,566. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week high of $415.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $380.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $363.91. The company has a market capitalization of $27.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.19, a P/E/G ratio of 6.47 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.15%.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last 90 days. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 778 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.5% in the first quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 384 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% in the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.