West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Sold by Kintegral Advisory LLC

Kintegral Advisory LLC lessened its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 32.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,770 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 1,358 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC's holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $290,604,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $209,879,000 after purchasing an additional 563,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $357,238,000 after purchasing an additional 494,828 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,277.7% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 425,915 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $139,513,000 after acquiring an additional 417,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,552,036 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $835,945,000 after acquiring an additional 266,488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stephens raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $320.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of WST stock traded down $0.77 on Monday, reaching $221.49. 400,415 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 735,944. The stock has a market cap of $15.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $215.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.95. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $352.33.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 16.13%. The firm's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.19%.

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.