Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 28,293 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 28,293 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock, valued at approximately $6,334,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $231,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $272,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 150.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 133 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,116 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $1,130,020,000 after purchasing an additional 203,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WST has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Two equities 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WST traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $217.05. The stock had a trading volume of 436,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,736. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.10. The firm has a market cap of $15.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.43 and a fifty-two week high of $352.33.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. West Pharmaceutical Services's payout ratio is presently 13.19%.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.