West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Sold by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,499 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,772 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $11,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $46,151,000 after buying an additional 16,418 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake 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 valued at $39,124,000 after purchasing an additional 23,850 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 80.9% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $203.00 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $251.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.00. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $197.01 and a twelve month high of $396.75. The company has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.59 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.56%.

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.