AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Dbs Bank

Dbs Bank upgraded shares of AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ATR. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $190.00.

AptarGroup Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE ATR opened at $168.63 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $154.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. AptarGroup has a fifty-two week low of $120.36 and a fifty-two week high of $169.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $910.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 9.00%. AptarGroup’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AptarGroup will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 10th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 24th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 24th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total value of $4,721,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,692,852.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total transaction of $117,248.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,956,701.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,457 shares of company stock worth $7,314,030. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AptarGroup during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 281.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in AptarGroup by 446.5% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in AptarGroup in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 4,983.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

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.