West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Sets New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $195.00 and last traded at $197.09, with a volume of 31604 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $203.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $251.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.56%.

Institutional Trading of West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after acquiring an additional 203,198 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $964,850,000 after buying an additional 10,060 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,019,007,000 after buying an additional 44,376 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $835,945,000 after acquiring an additional 266,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $581,209,000 after purchasing an additional 38,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.