Commerce Bank Buys 622 Shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,902 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $3,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WST. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 742 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 320 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.2% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,941 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 12,554 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $4,135,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,931.20. This represents a 35.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $316.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.23. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $265.00 and a 1 year high of $413.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $307.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $314.66. The stock has a market cap of $22.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 1.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $746.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $709.62 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 17.37%. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from West Pharmaceutical Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is 12.46%.

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.