Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lowered its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,468 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 338 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WST. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $225,851,000 after purchasing an additional 676,167 shares during the period. Seilern Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $145,379,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 199.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 595,775 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $178,828,000 after buying an additional 396,780 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $72,646,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,130,020,000 after buying an additional 203,198 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WST. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp reduced 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $230.33 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $285.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.25. The stock has a market cap of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.01 and a fifty-two week high of $400.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company 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 0.36%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.