Insider Selling: West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) VP Sells 703 Shares of Stock

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total transaction of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $308,700.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $316.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $301.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $319.76. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $265.00 and a 12-month high of $413.70. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a PE ratio of 46.96, a P/E/G ratio of 23.58 and a beta of 1.01.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $709.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.69 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is 11.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LGT Group Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the second quarter valued at $68,854,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $64,196,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP raised its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 597,106 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $236,281,000 after purchasing an additional 139,800 shares in the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,381,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 500,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $198,117,000 after buying an additional 61,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

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.