Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Acquires New Shares in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,207 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter worth $1,953,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 1,699 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $689,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 35,414 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $12,470,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter worth $154,000. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at $709,708.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total transaction of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares in the company, valued at $709,708.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the business’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 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 $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

NYSE WST opened at $360.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $377.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $364.13. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $310.42 and a twelve month high of $415.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $695.40 million for 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 20.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.