Independent Advisor Alliance Acquires 597 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 28.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,678 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% during the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 23,850 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew 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 worth $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp lowered their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

WST opened at $230.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $285.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $303.21. The company has a market cap of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.01 and a 1-year high of $400.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. On average, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.56%.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.