Harfst & Associates Inc. Buys 156 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Harfst & Associates Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,640 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 203,198 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $964,850,000 after acquiring an additional 10,060 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,740,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $520,569,000 after acquiring an additional 12,850 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $225,851,000 after buying an additional 676,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 683,350 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $205,114,000 after buying an additional 122,361 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $219.62 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.01 and a 52 week high of $400.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company has a market capitalization of $15.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.83, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $309.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $309.12.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $748.80 million during 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.