UMB Bank n.a. Sells 291 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

UMB Bank n.a. cut its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 7.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,789 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WST. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter valued at about $290,604,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,074.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 689,493 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $225,851,000 after purchasing an additional 676,167 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 731.8% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 640,735 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $209,879,000 after purchasing an additional 563,705 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,090,603 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $357,238,000 after purchasing an additional 494,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 5,277.7% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 425,915 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $139,513,000 after purchasing an additional 417,995 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 0.4%

WST opened at $223.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.43 and a 12 month high of $352.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $210.40 and a 200 day moving average of $262.40.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. The company had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.38%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.19%.

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.