Brooklyn Investment Group Makes New $41,000 Investment in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 136 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $27,541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter worth about $1,937,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 525.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,990 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $7,515,000 after buying an additional 15,952 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,074 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,724,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 53,747 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $16,133,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $325.44 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $308.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $313.41. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $265.00 and a twelve month high of $413.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $23.57 billion, a PE ratio of 48.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 24.42 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.35. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The firm had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $709.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. This is an increase from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.46%.

West Pharmaceutical Services 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.