AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th.

AptarGroup has a payout ratio of 27.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect AptarGroup to earn $6.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.8%.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of AptarGroup stock traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $157.87. 292,046 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 324,497. The business has a 50-day moving average of $155.16 and a 200 day moving average of $151.38. AptarGroup has a fifty-two week low of $130.85 and a fifty-two week high of $178.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.04. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 10.41%. The business had revenue of $887.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $894.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AptarGroup will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ATR. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $170.00 price target (up previously from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $178.60.

Insider Activity at AptarGroup

In other AptarGroup news, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $503,646.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 33,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,183,433.06. This trade represents a 8.86% 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 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.49, for a total value of $1,095,430.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. This trade represents a 40.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 45,680 shares of company stock valued at $6,983,798 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATR. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 22.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 88,716 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,164,000 after purchasing an additional 16,145 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 31.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,835 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 28.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,399 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.