West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Position Boosted by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,414 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 858 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $12,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter valued at $71,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 over the last 90 days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WST shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WST traded down $4.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $385.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 756,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,312. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week high of $415.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $377.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $364.11. The company has a market cap of $28.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.49, a P/E/G ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 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 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 10.15%.

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.