New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 4,055 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,760 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 4,055 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.08% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $13,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,110,903 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,019,007,000 after purchasing an additional 44,376 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $835,945,000 after buying an additional 266,488 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after buying an additional 38,757 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $357,238,000 after acquiring an additional 494,828 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $290,604,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $320.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of WST opened at $221.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.03. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $187.43 and a one year high of $352.33. The company has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 16.13%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. Research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 13.19%.

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.