Bath Savings Trust Co Lowers Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Bath Savings Trust Co reduced its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,063 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WST. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,716,312 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,579,876,000 after buying an additional 82,459 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 23.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,842,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,912,000 after buying an additional 541,540 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,719,972 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $404,796,000 after buying an additional 12,228 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,451 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $533,210,000 after buying an additional 35,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.2% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,250,661 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $433,317,000 after buying an additional 39,220 shares in the last quarter. 91.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.64, for a total value of $829,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares in the company, valued at $6,168,599.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, SVP Bernard Birkett sold 22,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $8,272,290.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,617,122.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.64, for a total value of $829,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,168,599.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,752 shares of company stock valued at $22,713,817 over the last three months. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WST traded up $1.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $395.26. The company had a trading volume of 72,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 455,231. 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 capitalization of $29.19 billion, a PE ratio of 57.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $389.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $364.79. The company has a current ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 2.78 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.16. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 18.10%. The company had revenue of $753.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.