West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Bought by Fiera Capital Corp

Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 140,893 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,418 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.19% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $46,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WST. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $225,851,000 after buying an additional 676,167 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 171,644 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $56,224,000 after acquiring an additional 20,427 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 4,513 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on WST shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $403.75.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $323.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $265.00 and a 12-month high of $408.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $332.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.13. The company has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.93, a P/E/G ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 1.01.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.46%.

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.