Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Reduces Stock Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,100 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $4,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 39,466.7% during 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 buying an additional 26,048 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.7% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 2,476 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.4% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.9% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 27,611 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,513,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.5% in the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 3,752 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America lifted 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. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $220.34 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.01 and a 1 year high of $400.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $311.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $309.75. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS 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 business had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. Equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 12.56%.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.