MJP Associates Inc. ADV Raises Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,522 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position 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 valued at $1,130,020,000 after purchasing an additional 203,198 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44,376 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 266,488 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,778,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $581,209,000 after acquiring an additional 38,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Stephens raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $213.39 on Monday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.43 and a 12-month high of $367.71. The stock has a market cap of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $216.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $277.99. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend 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.