West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Purchased by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,699 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $597,061,000 after buying an additional 578,796 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,305,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $489,672,000 after purchasing an additional 35,788 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 806,103 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $302,458,000 after buying an additional 33,867 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the third quarter valued at $215,011,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WST. UBS Group dropped their price target on 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 lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 4.5 %

NYSE WST traded down $17.55 on Thursday, reaching $368.18. The company had a trading volume of 742,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 515,104. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $310.42 and a 1 year high of $415.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $377.32 and a 200-day moving average of $364.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a PE ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.