West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) CEO Sells $24,198,900.00 in Stock

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) CEO Eric Mark Green sold 66,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.65, for a total value of $24,198,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,063,718.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Eric Mark Green also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 27th, Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of West Pharmaceutical Services stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

WST traded down $1.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $365.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 765,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,295. The company has a market capitalization of $26.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $378.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $363.05. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $310.42 and a 52-week high of $415.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 2.61.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $695.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $670.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 19.42% and a return on equity of 20.57%. The business’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On West Pharmaceutical Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WST. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 97 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WST. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.