Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 506 shares during the quarter. West Pharmaceutical Services accounts for 1.6% of Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $5,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $46,151,000 after buying an additional 16,418 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,541,000 after buying an additional 2,037 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $39,124,000 after buying an additional 23,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,195 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WST shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 report on Friday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $214.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $327.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $313.92. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.01 and a 12-month high of $400.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.46%.

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.