West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Bought by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 33.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,838 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 138.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 136 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on WST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of 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. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.9 %

WST stock opened at $201.28 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.00 and a 52-week high of $396.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.12. The firm has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.09, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 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 return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.