Artemis Investment Management LLP Cuts Holdings in Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY)

Artemis Investment Management LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) by 53.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,890 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Avery Dennison were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 3,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Condor Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 13,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,773,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 14,169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,163,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Avery Dennison in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Avery Dennison from $248.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Avery Dennison from $223.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Argus lifted their target price on Avery Dennison from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Avery Dennison from $218.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.50.

Insider Transactions at Avery Dennison

In other news, CFO Gregory Lovins sold 2,894 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.20, for a total value of $657,516.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 67,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,326,230.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Gregory Lovins sold 2,894 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.20, for a total value of $657,516.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 67,457 shares in the company, valued at $15,326,230.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deena Baker-Nel sold 3,000 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.17, for a total value of $684,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,824.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,583 shares of company stock valued at $2,856,353. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avery Dennison Price Performance

NYSE:AVY traded down $4.75 on Friday, reaching $218.65. 781,757 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 439,829. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $213.17. The firm has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.91. Avery Dennison Co. has a 12 month low of $163.83 and a 12 month high of $231.53.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.14. Avery Dennison had a return on equity of 32.59% and a net margin of 6.56%. The business had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Avery Dennison Co. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Avery Dennison Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th were issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Avery Dennison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 5th. Avery Dennison’s payout ratio is 51.39%.

About Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison Corporation operates as a materials science and digital identification solutions company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Latin, America, and internationally. It provides pressure-sensitive materials comprising papers, plastic films, metal foils, and fabrics; performance tapes products, including tapes for wire harnessing, as well as cable wrapping for automotive, electrical, and general industrial applications; mechanical fasteners, which are precision-extruded and injection-molded plastic devices used in various automotive, general industrial, and retail applications; and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products under the Fasson, JAC, Yongle, and Avery Dennison brands.