Is it “Take Profit” Season for West Pharmaceutical (WST)?

Baron Funds, an asset management firm, published its “Baron Asset Fund” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Against this backdrop, Baron Asset Fund (the “Fund”) gained 5.04% (Institutional Shares), while the Russell Midcap Growth Index (the “Index”) gained 2.85%, and the S&P 500 Index gained 11.03%. The Fund’s outperformance was attributable to favorable stock selection and tailwinds from certain style biases, notably its underexposure to the poor performing residual volatility and beta factors. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Baron Asset Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST) and discussed its stance on the firm. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. is a West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical company with a $27.6 billion market capitalization. WST delivered a -20.34% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 24.66%. The stock closed at $373.59 per share on January 20, 2022.

Here is what Baron Asset Fund has to say about West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Outperformance of the Fund’s investments in Health Care, Financials, and Communication Services and its lower exposure to the lagging Consumer Discretionary sector added the most value. Positive stock selection in Health Care was driven by pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. We reduced our stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a successful long-term holding, to recognize some profits as the stock reached record levels.”

Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash

Our calculations show that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. WST was in 31 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 29 funds in the previous quarter. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE: WST) delivered a -11.52% return in the past 3 months.

In November 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on WST in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.