GW&K Investment Management LLC Sells 12,421 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

GW&K Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 26.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,947 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 12,421 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $11,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13,230.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,571,000 after acquiring an additional 18,522 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 35,414 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $12,470,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 66,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.65, for a total value of $24,198,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $56,063,718.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,978 shares of company stock worth $50,852,672 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $334.29 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $310.42 and a 1 year high of $415.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $376.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $364.09. The company has a market cap of $24.35 billion, a PE ratio of 44.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 1.05.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The business had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.76 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given 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 0.24%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.55%.

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.