E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Lowers Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB decreased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,039 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WST. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 39.4% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,891 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,338 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 179,369 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $58,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 7,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter worth about $200,000. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WST shares. Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $224.15 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $210.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $263.45. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.43 and a 52 week high of $352.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.19%.

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.