Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 487,102 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 140,947 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.67% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $159,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 150.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 133 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $332.50.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WST
West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.4 %
Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $211.77. 134,237 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 957,666. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.43 and a twelve month high of $394.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $229.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. Research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.
West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.56%.
West Pharmaceutical Services Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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