West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 7.630-7.880 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 7.620. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.0 billion-$3.0 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.0 billion.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WST. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.1 %

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $385.73 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12-month low of $310.42 and a 12-month high of $415.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $377.32 and its 200 day moving average is $364.26. The company has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a PE ratio of 48.95, a PEG ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The company had revenue of $732.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.