Allstate Corp Acquires Shares of 2,571 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,571 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,316,804 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,038,517,000 after purchasing an additional 85,083 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,271,866 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $715,884,000 after buying an additional 68,330 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.3% during the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,267,319 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $496,089,000 after acquiring an additional 71,836 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the second quarter worth $255,072,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 959,525 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $209,944,000 after acquiring an additional 10,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $345.00 price target on West Pharmaceutical Services and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $335.78.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of WST opened at $247.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.87, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.49. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.43 and a 1-year high of $348.90. The company has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.17.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $804.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $788.42 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 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, February 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.04%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc is a global developer and manufacturer of components, systems and services that enable the containment and delivery of injectable drugs. The company focuses on high-quality packaging and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, producing primary drug packaging components and specialized drug delivery devices used for vaccines, biologics and other injectable therapies. West is known for its elastomeric closures, seals and polymer components that maintain sterility and compatibility with sensitive drug formulations.

In addition to component manufacturing, West provides engineered delivery systems and support services across the product lifecycle.