Wedbush Securities Inc. cut its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,366 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,925,965 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,196,501,000 after buying an additional 92,870 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,090,611 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,990,938,000 after buying an additional 34,875 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,742,487 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $428,787,000 after buying an additional 502,186 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,236,059 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $310,585,000 after buying an additional 134,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,216,793 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $299,428,000 after buying an additional 236,270 shares in the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WST shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $250.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $315.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.00.
Insider Activity
West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.4 %
Shares of NYSE WST opened at $362.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.90 and a current ratio of 3.70. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $206.19 and a 52-week high of $382.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $323.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.72. The stock has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.09.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.38. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 26.24%. The firm had revenue of $708.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $657.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.38 EPS for the current year.
West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 25th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.84%.
About West Pharmaceutical Services
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following business segments: Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers proprietary packaging, containment and drug delivery products, along with analytical lab services, to biologic, generic and pharmaceutical drug customers.
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