Tobam Acquires 813 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Tobam boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,513 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the quarter. Tobam’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 1,573 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. William Allan Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. William Allan Corp now owns 7,383 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% in 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 buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 179,369 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $58,754,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WST shares. Citigroup began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WST opened at $330.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04, a PEG ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $265.00 and a 1-year high of $413.70. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $332.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $314.53. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 12.46%.

West Pharmaceutical Services 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.