Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases New Shares in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,217 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13,230.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $6,571,000 after buying an additional 18,522 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $281,524,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WST. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. 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 report 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $366.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.37, a PEG ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 1.05. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $310.42 and a 12 month high of $415.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $378.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $363.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $695.40 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other West Pharmaceutical Services 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Company 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.