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

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

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WST shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 4.5 %

NYSE:WST traded down $17.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $368.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 742,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,105. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $377.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $364.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88. The company has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 12 month low of $310.42 and a 12 month high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

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 $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.15%.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company 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.