Moors & Cabot Inc. Acquires Shares of 549 West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 5th, 2023

Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 549 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,864 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,998,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 103,190 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $42,381,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,716,312 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $3,579,876,000 after acquiring an additional 82,459 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 152.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 70.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 258 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 91.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 13,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.81, for a total transaction of $4,759,919.72. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,442,155.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other West Pharmaceutical Services news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 13,012 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.81, for a total value of $4,759,919.72. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,442,155.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 44,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.35, for a total value of $14,183,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,705 shares in the company, valued at $27,627,006.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 67,744 shares of company stock worth $22,802,358. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WST opened at $369.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.79, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $206.19 and a 52-week high of $376.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $342.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.62 and a beta of 1.09.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $716.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $697.28 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 19.15%. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 25th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WST has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $315.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from $250.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stephens raised shares of West Pharmaceutical Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $330.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of West Pharmaceutical Services in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services Profile

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West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following business segments: Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers proprietary packaging, containment and drug delivery products, along with analytical lab services, to biologic, generic and pharmaceutical drug customers.