West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Sold by Duality Advisers LP

Duality Advisers LP reduced its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 660 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 109 shares during the quarter. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,647,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,437 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,267,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 182,057 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $64,106,000 after acquiring an additional 39,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 972 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Down 2.1 %

WST stock opened at $360.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $377.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $364.13. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $310.42 and a 52 week high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 20.29%. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $670.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on 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 upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

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.