Eastern Bank Purchases New Stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 273 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $82,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.5% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 191,469 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $75,766,000 after purchasing an additional 2,759 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 142.3% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 29,628 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $11,724,000 after acquiring an additional 17,399 shares during the last quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.3% during the first quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 164,738 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $65,188,000 after acquiring an additional 5,217 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 54.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,574 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,181,000 after acquiring an additional 3,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in West Pharmaceutical Services by 44.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,365 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $4,893,000 after acquiring an additional 3,802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 1,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $308,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,478 shares in the company, valued at $443,400. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

WST stock opened at $307.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $300.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $322.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 1.01. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $746.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $709.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 19.17% and a net margin of 18.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.08%.

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.