Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.59 Million in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,500 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,367,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $597,061,000 after purchasing an additional 578,796 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter valued at approximately $215,011,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 73.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 849,266 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $294,246,000 after purchasing an additional 359,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,610,000. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WST shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.4 %

WST stock opened at $372.06 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $310.42 and a 12-month high of $415.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $27.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.22, a PEG ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $378.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $364.11.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The company had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.