Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Reduces Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. $WST

26 Apr 2026, 08:12 by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat Gem

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH reduced its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST – Free Report) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,959 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 2,561 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.06% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $12,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WST. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,770,920 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $726,895,000 after purchasing an additional 503,601 shares during the last quarter. Steadfast Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $123,667,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 420.1% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 545,879 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $142,949,000 after purchasing an additional 440,929 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,704,948 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,545,899,000 after purchasing an additional 388,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,164,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about West Pharmaceutical Services

Here are the key news stories impacting West Pharmaceutical Services this week:

Positive Sentiment: Beat-and-raise: West delivered a sizable Q1 beat and raised FY2026 EPS to $8.40–8.75 and Q2 EPS to $2.05–2.12, citing strong demand for proprietary injectable components. This directly improves forward earnings visibility and underpins the rally. West Reports First-Quarter 2026 Results
Positive Sentiment: HVP and execution callout: Deep-dive coverage highlights that growth was led by high‑value components and operational execution — factors that support margin expansion and recurring revenue from injectable drug trends. WST Q1 Deep Dive: High-Value Components and Operational Execution Drive Outperformance
Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade: TD Cowen added a Buy on WST, which can attract new buyer interest and lend support to the shares after the beat-and-raise. West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) Gets a Buy from TD Cowen
Positive Sentiment: Positive analyst writeups: Multiple analyst notes and commentary (Seeking Alpha, Zacks) point to durable demand, margin improvement and upside to estimates — reinforcing the upbeat investor narrative. West Pharmaceutical: A High-Quality Beat-And-Raise With More Upside Ahead
Neutral Sentiment: Earnings details & readouts: The full earnings call transcript and slide deck provide management color on portfolio mix, capacity plans and timing of customer programs — useful for modeling but not an immediate catalyst by itself. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Negative Sentiment: Short-term pullback risk: Despite the strong fundamentals, the stock traded lower today — likely profit‑taking after a recent run toward the 52‑week high and because WST carries a premium valuation (PE ~45). Expect near‑term volatility as traders digest the beat, upgrade and elevated expectations.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WST. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.67.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on WST

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.4%

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $305.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 2.34. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $202.79 and a 1-year high of $322.34. The company has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a PE ratio of 40.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $253.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $262.33.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.45. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 19.03% and a net margin of 16.85%.The firm had revenue of $844.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $779.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. West Pharmaceutical Services has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.750 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.050-2.120 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.96%.

West Pharmaceutical Services declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical instruments supplier to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

West Pharmaceutical Services Profile

(Free Report)

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.