Hills Bank & Trust Co Has $443,000 Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Hills Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 24.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,476 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 593,692 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $195,556,000 after purchasing an additional 37,702 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 13.9% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 500,662 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $198,117,000 after purchasing an additional 61,247 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 12.7% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 401,026 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $132,095,000 after purchasing an additional 45,208 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 9.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 301,339 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $99,258,000 after buying an additional 26,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in West Pharmaceutical Services by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 288,639 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $95,075,000 after acquiring an additional 30,253 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Charles Witherspoon sold 1,029 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $308,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $443,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

West Pharmaceutical Services Price Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $316.50 on Friday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $265.00 and a 1 year high of $413.70. The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $301.68 and its 200-day moving average is $319.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.96, a PEG ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.00.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.35. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 6.69 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This is an increase 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%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.87%.

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.