Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $1.13 Billion Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 4.76% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $1,130,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 39,466.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,114 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,838,000 after acquiring an additional 26,048 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 99.3% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,329 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 49.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 38,678 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,610,000 after purchasing an additional 12,769 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.9% during the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 2,172 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,553 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WST. 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 note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 4.9 %

NYSE:WST opened at $221.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $314.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.23. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.01 and a 52-week high of $400.88. The company has a market cap of $16.00 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. 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.