West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Sold by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC lowered its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,126 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,440 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,806 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after buying an additional 3,292 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 17,399 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $6,528,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 64,397 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $24,162,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 4,035 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.8 %

WST stock opened at $357.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $26.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $377.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $363.56. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $310.42 and a 52 week high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WST. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp increased their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company 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.