AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Trading 0.3% Higher – Here’s Why

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) shares traded up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $147.73 and last traded at $147.09. 22,747 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 288,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.60.

AptarGroup Trading Down 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.96.

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

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AptarGroup by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,207,015 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,132,222,000 after buying an additional 58,777 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in AptarGroup by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,889,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $462,919,000 after buying an additional 14,001 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in AptarGroup by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $389,854,000 after buying an additional 617,365 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AptarGroup by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,555,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $248,570,000 after buying an additional 40,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in AptarGroup by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $189,895,000 after buying an additional 50,651 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

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.