Summit Global Investments Purchases Shares of 587 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 587 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WST. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13,230.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised 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 buying an additional 60,927 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

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 value of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last quarter. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WST shares. KeyCorp boosted 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 note on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $366.54 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $377.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $362.99. The stock has a market cap of $26.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.36, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05. 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.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 20.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.98 EPS. Equities analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.55%.

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.