Swiss National Bank Trims Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 231,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 7,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.31% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $81,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% in 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 3rd quarter worth $215,011,000. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB now owns 180,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $67,538,000 after acquiring an additional 171,000 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 702.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,340 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $44,487,000 after acquiring an additional 110,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 43.4% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 279,107 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $104,726,000 after acquiring an additional 84,513 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $365.02 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $377.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $363.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $26.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.16, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.20.

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.