Savant Capital LLC Reduces Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Savant Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 790 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WST. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% in the fourth 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 period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $89,000. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $55,023,943.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $55,023,943.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WST shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $366.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $310.42 and a one year high of $415.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $377.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $362.99. The company has a market capitalization of $26.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.36, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.05.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS 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 return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

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

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.