Postrock Partners LLC Purchases New Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Postrock Partners LLC acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 771 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter valued at $41,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WST has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price target 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 raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $224.01 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.27. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.01 and a fifty-two week high of $400.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 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, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.56%.

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.