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

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE WST traded down $5.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $362.33. 109,035 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 509,862. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $377.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.29. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73. The stock has a market cap of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.05, a PEG ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.53% 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.