Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $14.03 Million Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,850 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 10,805 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $14,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter worth $71,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

WST opened at $389.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $377.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.11. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $310.42 and a 1 year high of $415.73. The company has a market capitalization of $28.55 billion, a PE ratio of 49.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $740.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 over the last 90 days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.