Brokerages Set West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Target Price at $314.56

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $314.5556.

A number of brokerages recently commented on WST. Wall Street Zen upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $295.00 price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $390.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $255.14 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $243.55 and a 200 day moving average of $261.23. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1 year low of $187.43 and a 1 year high of $322.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 2.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.15.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.21. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 17.90% and a net margin of 16.06%.The business had revenue of $805.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $795.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.850-8.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 29th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.96%.

West Pharmaceutical Services announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical instruments supplier to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,704,948 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,545,899,000 after purchasing an additional 388,144 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,271,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $715,884,000 after purchasing an additional 68,330 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,850,401 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $784,259,000 after purchasing an additional 79,481 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,869,086 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $512,250,000 after buying an additional 11,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 1,561,869 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $429,733,000 after buying an additional 585,855 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a global developer and manufacturer of components, systems and services that enable the containment and delivery of injectable drugs. The company focuses on high-quality packaging and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing primary drug packaging components and specialized drug delivery devices used for vaccines, biologics and other injectable therapies. West is known for its elastomeric closures, seals and polymer components that maintain sterility and compatibility with sensitive drug formulations.

In addition to component manufacturing, West provides engineered delivery systems and support services across the product lifecycle.