ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Purchases New Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $4,586,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,124,000 after purchasing an additional 23,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,195 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WST. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $210.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $323.55 and its 200 day moving average is $312.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.01 and a 52-week high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.62%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 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.