Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Trims Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 14.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,184 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 5,631 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $7,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,231,721 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,066,798,000 after purchasing an additional 244,259 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $731,747,000 after buying an additional 716,442 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 146.8% during the first quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,573,119 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $352,190,000 after buying an additional 935,721 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.7% during the first quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,562,139 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $323,766,000 after buying an additional 124,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 43.5% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,134,706 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $254,038,000 after buying an additional 343,997 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rothschild Redb upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Barclays upped their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Redburn Partners set a $311.00 target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $349.11.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $286.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a PE ratio of 42.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.18. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $348.90.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.29. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 16.29%.The business had revenue of $804.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $788.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.060-7.110 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.