AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%.

AptarGroup has increased its dividend by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. AptarGroup has a dividend payout ratio of 27.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect AptarGroup to earn $5.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.3%.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ATR opened at $159.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.15. AptarGroup has a 1-year low of $128.05 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The company has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $163.22 and a 200-day moving average of $157.89.

AptarGroup declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, October 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ATR. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Insider Activity at AptarGroup

In other news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total value of $162,752.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,324,977.84. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total value of $5,088,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at $29,530,412.80. This trade represents a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AptarGroup Company Profile

AptarGroup, Inc designs and manufactures a range of drug delivery, consumer product dispensing, and active material science solutions and services for the pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, home care, and food and beverage markets. The company operates through Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures segments.