Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Purchases 385 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,815 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE owned about 0.05% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $13,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% in the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 1,478 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Peninsula Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Peninsula Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,580 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $3,373,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 37.9% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,703 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WST. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, West Pharmaceutical Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $435.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares in the company, valued at $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 132,966 shares of company stock worth $48,293,292. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WST traded up $3.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $331.66. 385,939 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 565,905. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.95. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $310.42 and a 1-year high of $415.73. The stock has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $373.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.07.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released 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 return on equity of 20.57% and a net margin of 19.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.98 EPS. On average, analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 10.55%.

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.