Captrust Financial Advisors Cuts Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Captrust Financial Advisors reduced its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 26.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,366 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 1,568 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,019,007,000 after buying an additional 44,376 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after buying an additional 266,488 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after buying an additional 38,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $357,238,000 after buying an additional 494,828 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on WST shares. KeyCorp cut their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report 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 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $215.81 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $215.99 and a 200-day moving average of $276.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The company has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $362.54.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.19%.

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.