West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Stock Position Lifted by Bokf Na

Bokf Na boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,709 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 301 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WST. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 150.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 133 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WST shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.6 %

WST opened at $214.36 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $372.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $216.80 and a 200-day moving average of $278.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.04, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

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

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.