West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.27 EPS

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services updated its FY 2024 guidance to 7.630-7.880 EPS.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE WST traded down $7.27 on Friday, hitting $360.91. 253,767 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,404. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $377.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $364.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $310.42 and a 52-week high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WST. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

Insider Activity

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

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.