Lindbrook Capital LLC Increases Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 46.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $597,061,000 after buying an additional 578,796 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,305,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $489,672,000 after buying an additional 35,788 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 806,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $302,458,000 after buying an additional 33,867 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after buying an additional 60,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter valued at $215,011,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 in the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $385.73 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a PE ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $310.42 and a 12-month high of $415.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $377.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $364.26.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.15%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company 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.