West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Now Covered by Analysts at Citigroup

Equities research analysts at Citigroup began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) in a research note issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 20.24% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on WST. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $332.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.36, a P/E/G ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.00. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1 year low of $265.00 and a 1 year high of $413.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $324.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $312.15.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.35. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,931.20. The trade was a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 2,354 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 778 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,342 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,087,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,298 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dudley & Shanley Inc. increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.8% during the third quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 81,131 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $24,352,000 after acquiring an additional 11,085 shares during the last quarter. 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.