Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 736,159 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 58.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 525,319 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 736,159 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.73% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $172,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Rock Springs Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 168,750 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $55,276,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 41,354 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $13,547,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,241 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 632,307 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $207,119,000 after buying an additional 21,806 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,242 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $6,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WST. KeyCorp lowered their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI began 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 on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a "buy" rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.7 %

WST traded up $1.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $211.80. The company had a trading volume of 208,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,134. The company has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of 31.64, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.22. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $372.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $218.16 and a 200-day moving average of $281.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last released 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. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. West Pharmaceutical Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.