Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $377,000 Stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,072 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 3rd quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of WST stock traded down $1.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $388.76. 164,266 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 504,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company has a market cap of $28.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.49, a P/E/G ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $377.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $364.11. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $310.42 and a fifty-two week high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Company 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.