Hilltop National Bank Buys 70 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Hilltop National Bank grew its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 47.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $71,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 14.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 320 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,941 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% in the third quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 1,752 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $526,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WST shares. UBS Group raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $350.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $430.20.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.40, for a total value of $218,211.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at $388,931.20. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $332.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.31, a P/E/G ratio of 25.04 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $325.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $312.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 3.00. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $265.00 and a 52-week high of $413.70.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $746.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $709.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a net margin of 17.37% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. This is a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.46%.

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.