Korea Investment CORP Cuts Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,362 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $6,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,124,000 after acquiring an additional 23,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 80.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,153,000 after acquiring an additional 3,042 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $223.95 on Tuesday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.01 and a 52-week high of $396.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $261.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $297.28. The stock has a market cap of $16.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. 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 (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.