Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $125,000 Stock Position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd reduced its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 47.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 355 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the third quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 235 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at $55,023,943.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Silji Abraham sold 7,012 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,559,380.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,700,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock worth $26,653,772. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WST shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock opened at $368.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.95 billion, a PE ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 1.04. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $310.42 and a 52-week high of $415.73. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $377.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $364.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.88.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (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 net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 21.60%. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. On average, analysts predict that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 10.15%.

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.