West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) – Equities researchers at Jefferies Group upped their Q3 2017 earnings estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services in a report released on Tuesday. Jefferies Group analyst D. Windley now expects that the firm will earn $0.63 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.62. Jefferies Group has a “Hold” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services’ Q4 2017 earnings at $0.66 EPS and FY2017 earnings at $2.58 EPS.
WST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Investment Research raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $97.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 28th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott reissued a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 23rd.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) opened at 83.70 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52 week low of $53.88 and a 52 week high of $88.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.88. The company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.27 and a beta of 0.95.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.53. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 14.54% and a net margin of 9.27%. The business had revenue of $376.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $371.76 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 18th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 13th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.11%.
In other news, Director Patrick J. Zenner acquired 332 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $84.53 per share, with a total value of $28,063.96. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula A. Johnson sold 2,466 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.87, for a total value of $187,095.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Japan Co. Ltd purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter valued at $151,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 14.0% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LLC raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,481.4% in the second quarter. Seven Eight Capital LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 2,357 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. 89.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.