UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,787 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.2% during the second quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 5,981 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 70.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 123 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 35.0% during the first quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 880 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 49.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 14,500 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,356,000 after acquiring an additional 4,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.1% during the second quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 831 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.51% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services
In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 44,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.99, for a total value of $10,515,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 114,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,465,208.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WST shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, November 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $385.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Friday, October 28th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $266.25.
West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.2 %
NYSE WST opened at $235.26 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $234.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $275.65. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $206.19 and a one year high of $475.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.80. The company has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.14.
West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.12 by ($0.09). West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 21.68% and a return on equity of 28.15%. The firm had revenue of $686.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.64 million. Research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 8.18 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, February 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 25th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 24th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.17%.
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.
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