Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $15.73 Million Stock Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,024 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,105 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $15,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $46,151,000 after acquiring an additional 16,418 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 321.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 3,183 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,541,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 130,345 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $39,124,000 after acquiring an additional 23,850 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 research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wolfe Research started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 2.8 %

WST stock opened at $224.23 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $289.34 and its 200-day moving average is $304.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $197.01 and a twelve month high of $400.88. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.59 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. Sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.56%.

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.