JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 66.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 220,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 435,132 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $48,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter worth approximately $424,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter valued at approximately $452,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 7.1% in the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 218,800 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $47,873,000 after acquiring an additional 14,600 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 59,922 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $13,111,000 after acquiring an additional 8,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,267,319 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $496,089,000 after acquiring an additional 71,836 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $311.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $345.00 price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $349.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $277.33 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.43 and a twelve month high of $348.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $271.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.02. The firm has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.29. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 16.29%.The company had revenue of $804.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $788.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.060-7.110 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services 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.