Bamco Inc. NY Sells 279,326 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Bamco Inc. NY lowered its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 36.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 483,842 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 279,326 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $145,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WST. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,756 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $27,541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in West Pharmaceutical Services during the 1st quarter worth $1,937,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 525.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,990 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $7,515,000 after buying an additional 15,952 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,074 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after buying an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 53,747 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $16,133,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at West Pharmaceutical Services

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 703 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,253 shares in the company, valued at $388,931.20. This trade represents a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WST opened at $325.68 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $308.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a PE ratio of 48.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 24.71 and a beta of 1.01. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $265.00 and a 12-month high of $413.70.

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

West Pharmaceutical Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a boost from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is 12.46%.

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.