First Hawaiian Bank Purchases 402 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,105 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth about $237,367,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,842,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $984,912,000 after purchasing an additional 541,540 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 315.5% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 488,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $114,866,000 after purchasing an additional 370,589 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 849,266 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $294,246,000 after purchasing an additional 359,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth about $77,880,000. Institutional investors own 91.23% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST opened at $397.86 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $388.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $363.57. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $206.19 and a twelve month high of $415.73. The stock has a market cap of $29.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a PEG ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.78, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $753.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.71 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 18.10%. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, insider Cindy Reiss-Clark sold 3,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.34, for a total transaction of $1,367,643.18. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,699,228.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Cindy Reiss-Clark sold 3,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.34, for a total transaction of $1,367,643.18. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,699,228.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Bernard Birkett sold 22,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $8,272,290.26. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,617,122.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,752 shares of company stock valued at $22,713,817. Corporate insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WST. Stephens increased their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $420.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Bank of America raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $390.00 to $405.00 in a report on Friday, June 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $361.00.

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.