OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Has $1.01 Million Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,078 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $46,151,000 after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,553,000. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 904.2% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 21,941 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,187,000 after purchasing an additional 19,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI assumed 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 target on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $216.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $275.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $187.43 and a one year high of $356.14.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. Research analysts predict 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 disclosed 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 13.19%.

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.