New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,982 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 767 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.13% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $31,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% in the 3rd 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 boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% in the 4th 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.8% during the 3rd 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 worth $205,114,000 after acquiring an additional 122,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $178,828,000 after acquiring an additional 396,780 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WST shares. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America raised their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp cut their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.5 %

WST opened at $203.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.01 and a 52 week high of $400.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $318.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $311.20. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.62% and a net margin of 17.03%. On average, research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.