Vest Financial LLC Sells 12,727 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Vest Financial LLC trimmed its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,917 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock after selling 12,727 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned approximately 0.22% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $35,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 626 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 711 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,821 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 2,090 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Stephens raised West Pharmaceutical Services to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $470.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $332.50.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:WST traded up $5.57 on Friday, hitting $224.15. 976,054 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 731,313. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.43 and a 52 week high of $352.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.78. The company has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a PE ratio of 33.51, a PEG ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.23. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.60% and a net margin of 17.03%. The firm had revenue of $698.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.24 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. West Pharmaceutical Services's payout ratio is presently 13.19%.

West Pharmaceutical Services Company Profile

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.