Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Sells 163 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust reduced its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,231 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 39,466.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,114 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,838,000 after acquiring an additional 26,048 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 24.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,511 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 24.5% during the third quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,476 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.6% during the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 42,077 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $12,630,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 43.5% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 42,048 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $12,621,000 after acquiring an additional 12,745 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WST. Citigroup began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $344.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 4.4 %

WST stock opened at $232.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $305.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.12. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.01 and a 52 week high of $400.88. The company has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.01.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 18.60%. The business had revenue of $748.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.59 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.56%.

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.