SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 64 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,283 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew 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 acquiring an additional 578,796 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,305,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $489,672,000 after buying an additional 35,788 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 806,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $302,458,000 after acquiring an additional 33,867 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $281,524,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,011,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WST. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.9 %

West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded down $3.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $365.02. The stock had a trading volume of 447,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,444. The stock has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 48.16, a PEG ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $377.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $363.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $310.42 and a 52 week high of $415.73.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last 90 days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company 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.