West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Purchased by Wahed Invest LLC

Wahed Invest LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,870 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unisphere Establishment purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,486,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 768,848 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $251,844,000 after purchasing an additional 109,481 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,265,000. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,680 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 118,276 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,742,000 after purchasing an additional 17,985 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WST. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WST opened at $211.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $217.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $281.08. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.43 and a fifty-two week high of $372.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 13.19%.

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.