First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $906,000 Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,574 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 63 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WST. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $597,061,000 after acquiring an additional 578,796 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 806,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $302,458,000 after purchasing an additional 33,867 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after purchasing an additional 60,927 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,011,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 476,407 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $178,753,000 after buying an additional 37,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WST has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $365.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.59 billion, a PE ratio of 48.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.05. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $310.42 and a 52 week high of $415.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $377.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $363.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.