Ethic Inc. Trims Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Ethic Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 52.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,348 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 3,751 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WST. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.4% during 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 buying an additional 44,376 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $835,945,000 after buying an additional 266,488 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $581,209,000 after buying an additional 38,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $357,238,000 after acquiring an additional 494,828 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST opened at $215.81 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $215.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.94. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.43 and a 52-week high of $362.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The company had revenue of $698.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company 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 0.39%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.19%.

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.