West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 731.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 563,705 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.88% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $209,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $225,851,000 after acquiring an additional 676,167 shares in the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,379,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $178,828,000 after purchasing an additional 396,780 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $72,646,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 203,198 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WST shares. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $230.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $303.25. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $197.01 and a twelve month high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.56%.

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.