West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Acquired by LPL Financial LLC

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.2% in Q1, acquiring an additional 8,039 shares, bringing its total holdings to 73,796 shares valued at approximately $16.5 million.
• West Pharmaceutical Services recently reported $1.84 EPS in its last quarterly results, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.51, and achieved a 9.2% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22, an increase from the previous quarter, reflecting a moderate payout ratio of 12.57%.

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 73,796 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after purchasing an additional 8,039 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.10% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $16,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 28.1% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,268,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $731,747,000 after acquiring an additional 716,442 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $357,238,000 after purchasing an additional 494,828 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 417,995 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,322,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 10,766.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 141,044 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $31,577,000 after buying an additional 139,746 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WST. Wall Street Zen raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stephens raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $320.71.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded up $3.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $240.79. 791,157 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 870,151. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $225.93 and a 200-day moving average of $234.22. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.43 and a 1 year high of $352.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 1.05.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.33. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 16.48% and a return on equity of 18.43%. The firm had revenue of $766.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $725.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio is 13.17%.

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.