It’s an appealing income play to consider West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (WST)

The price of West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) closed at $336.41 in the last session, up 3.32% from day before closing price of $325.59. In other words, the price has increased by $+10.82 from its previous closing price. On the day, 509074 shares were traded. WST stock price reached its highest trading level at $336.95 during the session, while it also had its lowest trading level at $323.43.

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Ratios:

We take a closer look at WST’s different ratios to gain a better understanding of the stock. It provided that stocks Price–to–Cash (P/C) ratio for the trailing twelve months (TTM) is standing at 27.95 whereas its Price-to-Free Cash Flow (P/FCF) for the term is 64.88. For the most recent quarter (mrq), Quick Ratio is recorded 2.90 and its Current Ratio is at 3.70. In the meantime, Its Debt-to-Equity ratio is 0.08 whereas as Long-Term Debt/Eq ratio is at 0.08.

Upgrades & Downgrades

In addition, analysts’ ratings and any changes thereto give investors an idea of the stock’s future direction. In the most recent recommendation for this company, Deutsche Bank on December 14, 2022, initiated with a Hold rating and assigned the stock a target price of $250.

On November 30, 2022, UBS started tracking the stock assigning a Neutral rating and target price of $250.

BofA Securities Downgraded its Buy to Neutral on October 28, 2022, whereas the target price for the stock was revised from $385 to $250.

Insider Transactions:

An investor can also benefit from insider trades by learning what management is thinking about the future direction of stock prices. A recent insider transaction in this stock occurred on Mar 07 when Green Eric Mark sold 44,000 shares for $322.35 per share. The transaction valued at 14,183,531 led to the insider holds 85,705 shares of the business.

Green Eric Mark sold 44,000 shares of WST for $10,515,518 on Dec 05. The President & CEO now owns 114,922 shares after completing the transaction at $238.99 per share. On Aug 02, another insider, Birkett Bernard, who serves as the Sr VP, CFO & COO of the company, sold 14,174 shares for $341.19 each. As a result, the insider received 4,836,074 and left with 795 shares of the company.

Valuation Measures:

As of this moment, West’s Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio for their current fiscal year is 43.94, and their Forward P/E ratio for the next fiscal year is 39.84. The expected Price-to-Earnings-to-Growth (PEG) calculation for the next 5 years is 1.62. For the stock, the TTM Price-to-Sale (P/S) ratio is 8.66 while its Price-to-Book (P/B) ratio in mrq is 9.32.

Stock Price History:

Over the past 52 weeks, WST has reached a high of $424.00, while it has fallen to a 52-week low of $206.19. The 50-Day Moving Average of the stock is 281.74, while the 200-Day Moving Average is calculated to be 277.08.

Shares Statistics:

According to the various share statistics, WST traded on average about 606.63K shares per day over the past 3-months and 509.13k shares per day over the past 10 days. A total of 74.40M shares are outstanding, with a floating share count of 73.57M. Insiders hold about 0.20% of the company’s shares, while institutions hold 95.50% stake in the company. Shares short for WST as of Jan 12, 2023 were 1.27M with a Short Ratio of 1.54M, compared to 1.16M on Dec 14, 2022. Therefore, it implies a Short% of Shares Outstanding of 1.72% and a Short% of Float of 2.24%.

Dividends & Splits

The forward annual dividend rate for WST is 0.76, which was 0.66 in the trailing 12 months. Against a Trailing Annual Dividend Yield of 0.20%, it implies a Forward Annual Dividend Yield of 0.29%. The stock’s 5-year Average Dividend Yield is 0.34. The current Payout Ratio is 9.30% for WST, which recently paid a dividend on May 02, 2023 with an ex-dividend date of Jan 23, 2023. Stock splits for the company last occurred on Sep 26, 2013 when the company split stock in a 2:1 ratio.

Earnings Estimates

The company has 8 analysts who recommend its stock at the moment. On average, analysts expect EPS of $1.38 for the current quarter, with a high estimate of $1.41 and a low estimate of $1.34, while EPS last year was $2.04. The consensus estimate for the next quarter is $1.63, with high estimates of $1.75 and low estimates of $1.5.

Analysts are recommending an EPS of between $8.22 and $8.15 for the fiscal current year, implying an average EPS of $8.18. EPS for the following year is $7.27, with 8 analysts recommending between $7.9 and $6.82.

Revenue Estimates

According to 8 analysts, the current quarter’s revenue is expected to be $657.17M. It ranges from a high estimate of $661.86M to a low estimate of $652M. As of the current estimate, West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.’s year-ago sales were $730.8M, an estimated decrease of -10.10% from the year-ago figure. For the next quarter, 6 analysts are estimating revenue of $682.17M, a decrease of -5.30% over than the figure of -$10.10% in the same quarter last year. There is a high estimate of $714.74M for the next quarter, whereas the lowest estimate is $660M.

A total of 9 analysts have provided revenue estimates for WST’s current fiscal year. The highest revenue estimate was $2.89B, while the lowest revenue estimate was $2.83B, resulting in an average revenue estimate of $2.84B. In the same quarter a year ago, actual revenue was $2.83B, up 0.30% from the average estimate. Based on 9 analysts’ estimates, the company’s revenue will be $2.87B in the next fiscal year. The high estimate is $3.04B and the low estimate is $2.8B. The average revenue growth estimate for next year is up 1.10% from the average revenue estimate for this year.