West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01, Bloomberg Earnings reports. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 11.42% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The firm had revenue of $397.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. West Pharmaceutical Services updated its FY17 guidance to $2.66-2.73 EPS.
West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) opened at 89.55 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12 month low of $70.17 and a 12 month high of $99.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.69. The stock has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.07 and a beta of 1.12.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 17th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.22%.
A number of analysts recently commented on WST shares. Zacks Investment Research raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. BidaskClub lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.18.
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In other news, CFO William J. Federici sold 54,996 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.45, for a total transaction of $5,249,368.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel Malone sold 4,124 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.31, for a total value of $384,810.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8,884.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,805,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $473,749,000 after buying an additional 5,740,426 shares during the period. Riverbridge Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth $48,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,440,844 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $525,637,000 after buying an additional 392,516 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 88.9% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 559,229 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $45,640,000 after buying an additional 263,171 shares during the period. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 963.0% in the second quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 248,534 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $23,491,000 after buying an additional 225,154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.34% of the company’s stock.
About West Pharmaceutical Services
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a manufacturer of packaging components and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products. The Company’s products include vial containment solutions, prefillable systems, self-injection platforms, cartridge systems and components, reconstitution and transfer systems, intradermal delivery solutions, specialty components, and contract manufacturing and analytical services.
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