Chase Investment Counsel Corp Makes New Investment in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,040 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WST. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13,230.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,571,000 after acquiring an additional 18,522 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 10.8% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders 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 Price Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $354.63 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $377.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $363.56. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $310.42 and a 52 week high of $415.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $25.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.78, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.04.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 10.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About West Pharmaceutical Services

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.