American Century Companies Inc. Sells 6,159 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 546,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,159 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $85,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 0.4% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 131,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,125,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,057 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its stake in AptarGroup by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 2,349 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in AptarGroup by 88.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 230,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,968,000 after buying an additional 108,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in AptarGroup by 43.9% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,066,000 after buying an additional 12,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATR has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.60.

AptarGroup Price Performance

NYSE:ATR opened at $147.95 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $150.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.82. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.96 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The firm has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.56%. Equities research analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.49%.

AptarGroup 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.