West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Bought by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 103,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.14% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $34,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on WST shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $226.15 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $266.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.43. The company has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.01 and a 1 year high of $397.72.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.56%.

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.