Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 434 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Janus Henderson Group PLC decreased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,792 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 434 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $3,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after acquiring an additional 203,198 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,019,007,000 after purchasing an additional 44,376 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after purchasing an additional 266,488 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $581,209,000 after purchasing an additional 38,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $357,238,000 after purchasing an additional 494,828 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WST shares. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.2%

WST opened at $217.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $214.75 and a 200 day moving average of $273.88. 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 12 month low of $187.43 and a 12 month high of $355.66. The firm has a market cap of $15.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.19%.

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.