Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Acquires 187 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 21.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,072 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $597,061,000 after acquiring an additional 578,796 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,305,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $489,672,000 after acquiring an additional 35,788 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 806,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $302,458,000 after buying an additional 33,867 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after buying an additional 60,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,011,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WST shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST traded down $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $388.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 164,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 504,519. 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 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The stock has a market cap of $28.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.49, a PEG ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $377.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $364.11.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $740.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. West Pharmaceutical Services’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.15%.

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.