Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 98 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,437 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 1.1 %

WST stock opened at $385.73 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $377.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $364.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.