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

Analysts at Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.74% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on WST. Bank of America lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WST opened at $231.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 34.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $283.13 and its 200 day moving average is $302.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79. West Pharmaceutical Services has a fifty-two week low of $197.01 and a fifty-two week high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WST. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,130,020,000 after purchasing an additional 203,198 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $964,850,000 after buying an additional 10,060 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,019,007,000 after acquiring an additional 44,376 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after acquiring an additional 266,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after acquiring an additional 38,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

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.