NewEdge Wealth LLC Purchases 416 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 50.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,242 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $437,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 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 buying an additional 18,522 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 60,927 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1,287.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 44,940 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $16,862,000 after purchasing an additional 41,700 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE:WST opened at $377.36 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $379.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $364.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.89, a P/E/G ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $310.42 and a 12-month high of $415.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $740.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,708.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $709,708.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.