West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services were worth $5,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WST. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 1.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,719,972 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $404,796,000 after acquiring an additional 12,228 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 57.2% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,591,271 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $597,061,000 after acquiring an additional 578,796 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,542,451 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $533,210,000 after acquiring an additional 35,627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 2.8% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,305,062 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $489,672,000 after acquiring an additional 35,788 shares in the last quarter. 93.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WST shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $375.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on West Pharmaceutical Services from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded West Pharmaceutical Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $323.00 to $536.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $435.20.

West Pharmaceutical Services Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE WST opened at $394.10 on Thursday. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $310.42 and a twelve month high of $415.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $374.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $363.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 50.01, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.03.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.05. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 20.12%. The business had revenue of $732.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $740.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

West Pharmaceutical Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.20%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s payout ratio is presently 10.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total transaction of $292,438.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,695.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Eric Mark Green sold 64,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.85, for a total transaction of $23,077,900.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,023,943.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Chad Winters sold 815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.82, for a total value of $292,438.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,695.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 73,978 shares of company stock valued at $26,653,772. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.