Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Purchases 44,376 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 44,376 shares during the quarter. West Pharmaceutical Services makes up 1.5% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 4.30% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $1,019,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $46,151,000 after buying an additional 16,418 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $39,124,000 after acquiring an additional 23,850 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,195 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WST. Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp dropped 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. Citigroup started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $222.54. 140,591 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 958,486. The company has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $263.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.79. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $197.01 and a twelve month high of $396.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. Analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services's payout ratio is presently 12.56%.

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.