Harfst & Associates Inc. Buys 156 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Harfst & Associates Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,640 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WST. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 39,466.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,114 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,838,000 after purchasing an additional 26,048 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,553 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,198 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 27,611 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $8,513,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 184,146 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $55,273,000 after purchasing an additional 24,218 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $219.62 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.01 and a 12-month high of $400.88. The company has a market capitalization of $15.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.83, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $309.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $309.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The firm had revenue of $748.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. Research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WST. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.00.

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.