West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Acquired by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,498 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned 0.12% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $32,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,864 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 54.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 849 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 103,190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $42,381,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,716,312 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,579,876,000 after purchasing an additional 82,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 152.8% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $378.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $381.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $363.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.73 billion, a PE ratio of 48.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $310.42 and a 1 year high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.43 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 value of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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.