Eric Mark Green Sells 66,000 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Stock

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) CEO Eric Mark Green sold 66,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.65, for a total transaction of $24,198,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $56,063,718.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Eric Mark Green also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 27th, Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total value of $23,077,900.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 0.3 %

West Pharmaceutical Services stock traded down $0.94 during trading on Thursday, reaching $365.72. The stock had a trading volume of 795,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,349. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $310.42 and a 52-week high of $415.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $378.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $363.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $26.64 billion, a PE ratio of 48.25, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 1.05.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $695.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. West Pharmaceutical Services's revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $435.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $300,250,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $597,061,000 after acquiring an additional 578,796 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter worth approximately $215,011,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 4th quarter valued at $88,227,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 659,560 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock valued at $232,244,000 after purchasing an additional 183,153 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.