West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Sold by Captrust Financial Advisors

Captrust Financial Advisors cut its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,366 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 1,568 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after buying an additional 266,488 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,220 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $11,669,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $3,439,000. Finally, BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $16,806,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $215.81 on Wednesday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.43 and a 12 month high of $362.54. The stock has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $215.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $276.94. 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) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 13.19%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company 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.