WINTON GROUP Ltd Raises Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 38.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,562 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $225,851,000 after acquiring an additional 676,167 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $209,879,000 after purchasing an additional 563,705 shares in the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter valued at $145,379,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $178,828,000 after purchasing an additional 396,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1,449.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 257,245 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $84,263,000 after buying an additional 240,642 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WST. Citigroup assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.8 %

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $222.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.01 and a 52 week high of $396.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $263.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.56%.

West Pharmaceutical Services 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.