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

Equities researchers at UBS Group began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $415.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 22.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on WST. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays raised West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $310.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $447.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $373.85.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.3%

WST traded up $1.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $338.79. 23,467 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 840,700. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $349.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.63. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $223.83 and a 52-week high of $386.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a PE ratio of 43.49, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.14.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $872.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $839.98 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 16.98%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company 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, sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 36,590.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 40,592,489 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $14,572,704,000 after purchasing an additional 40,481,855 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter worth about $2,387,990,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,271,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $715,884,000 after acquiring an additional 68,330 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,850,401 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $784,259,000 after acquiring an additional 79,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth about $733,733,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.