Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 393 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,399 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 393 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $5,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,214,448 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $964,850,000 after buying an additional 10,060 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,740,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $520,569,000 after buying an additional 12,850 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in 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 valued at $225,851,000 after buying an additional 676,167 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in 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 valued at $205,114,000 after buying an additional 122,361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped 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 report on Friday, December 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $229.03 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $197.01 and a one year high of $397.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $274.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $300.47. 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 $16.56 billion, a PE ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. 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.