FDx Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

FDx Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. FDx Advisors Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WST. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,864 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 54.4% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 849 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 103,190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $42,381,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,716,312 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,579,876,000 after purchasing an additional 82,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 152.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after buying an additional 2,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 44,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.35, for a total transaction of $14,183,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,627,006.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 44,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.35, for a total value of $14,183,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,627,006.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.57, for a total transaction of $483,855.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,357,697.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 111,744 shares of company stock worth $38,778,758. Insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $351.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.62, a quick ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.09 billion, a PE ratio of 48.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $351.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.66. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $206.19 and a 12-month high of $376.72.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $716.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.28 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 19.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 26th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 25th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WST. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $250.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $330.00 to $400.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $315.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Profile

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West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following business segments: Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers proprietary packaging, containment and drug delivery products, along with analytical lab services, to biologic, generic and pharmaceutical drug customers.