AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) has earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $178.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ATR shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com raised AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $170.00 price target (up previously from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity at AptarGroup

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 17,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total value of $2,687,686.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 204,986 shares in the company, valued at $31,002,082.64. This trade represents a 7.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.42, for a total value of $151,657.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,798.42. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,095 shares of company stock valued at $4,565,770 over the last quarter. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 16,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,906,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of AptarGroup stock opened at $153.30 on Friday. AptarGroup has a twelve month low of $130.85 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.71.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.04. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.56%. The company had revenue of $887.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $894.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. AptarGroup’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AptarGroup will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

About AptarGroup

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.