West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) to Repurchase $1.00 billion in Outstanding Stock

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical instruments supplier to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WST. KeyCorp upped their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Monday, December 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $285.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.56.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

NYSE WST traded down $7.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $243.27. 969,895 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,265,581. The company has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a PE ratio of 35.83, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 2.34. West Pharmaceutical Services has a 52-week low of $187.43 and a 52-week high of $322.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $260.12 and its 200-day moving average is $261.81.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.21. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 17.90% and a net margin of 16.06%.The business had revenue of $805.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $795.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.850-8.200 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.96%.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a global developer and manufacturer of components, systems and services that enable the containment and delivery of injectable drugs. The company focuses on high-quality packaging and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing primary drug packaging components and specialized drug delivery devices used for vaccines, biologics and other injectable therapies. West is known for its elastomeric closures, seals and polymer components that maintain sterility and compatibility with sensitive drug formulations.

In addition to component manufacturing, West provides engineered delivery systems and support services across the product lifecycle.