Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 12,783 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 63.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,366 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 12,783 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $2,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 13,230.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $6,571,000 after purchasing an additional 18,522 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 8.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 750,306 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $281,524,000 after acquiring an additional 60,927 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 10.8% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,830 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 11,720 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 12,958 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,563,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE WST opened at $385.73 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $28.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a PEG ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $377.32 and a 200-day moving average of $364.26. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The firm had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is 10.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 2,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.62, for a total value of $724,053.78. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,708.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WST. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

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.