Ameriprise Financial Inc. Has $191.10 Million Stock Holdings in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 551,550 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,009 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.74% of West Pharmaceutical Services worth $191,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 82,459 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 23.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,842,701 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $984,912,000 after buying an additional 541,540 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 12,228 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 35,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of West Pharmaceutical Services by 3.2% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,250,661 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $433,317,000 after buying an additional 39,220 shares during the last quarter. 91.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

West Pharmaceutical Services Stock Performance

Shares of WST stock opened at $394.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.66 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The stock has a market cap of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 57.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $389.44 and a 200-day moving average of $364.14. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has a one year low of $206.19 and a one year high of $415.73.

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $753.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.71 million. West Pharmaceutical Services had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 18.10%. West Pharmaceutical Services’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.64, for a total value of $829,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,168,599.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Annette F. Favorite sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.64, for a total value of $829,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,168,599.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cindy Reiss-Clark sold 3,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.34, for a total value of $1,367,643.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,699,228.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,752 shares of company stock valued at $22,713,817 in the last ninety days. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WST shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on West Pharmaceutical Services from $415.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 30th. Stephens boosted their price objective on West Pharmaceutical Services from $400.00 to $420.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Bank of America raised West Pharmaceutical Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $390.00 to $405.00 in a report on Friday, June 16th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on West Pharmaceutical Services in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.00.

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.