West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) VP Charles Witherspoon Sells 703 Shares

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total value of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Charles Witherspoon also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 19th, Charles Witherspoon sold 1,029 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $308,700.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of WST stock opened at $316.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $265.00 and a twelve month high of $413.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $301.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $319.76. The stock has a market cap of $22.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.96, a PEG ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. This is an increase from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 191,469 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $75,766,000 after buying an additional 2,759 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 142.3% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 29,628 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,724,000 after purchasing an additional 17,399 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 54.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,574 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,181,000 after purchasing an additional 3,738 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,365 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,893,000 after purchasing an additional 3,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 70.1% during the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 4,976 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,969,000 after buying an additional 2,050 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.