Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 49.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,346 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $731,747,000 after acquiring an additional 716,442 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 44,376 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $581,209,000 after acquiring an additional 38,757 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $357,238,000 after buying an additional 494,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $290,604,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $220.88 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $217.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $244.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market cap of $15.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.43 and a fifty-two week high of $352.33.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 16.13%. The business had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 13.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WST shares. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.00.

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.