AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Receives Overweight Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has reduced its price target for AptarGroup from $173.00 to $153.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating, indicating a potential upside of 10.41% from the stock's previous close.
• AptarGroup's stock is currently trading around $138.58, down 2.0%, with its 12-month range between $130.85 and $178.03.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for AptarGroup, with a price target average of $174.60, while the company recently reported earnings per share of $1.66, beating estimates.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by Wells Fargo & Company in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $153.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock, down from their previous price target of $173.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.58% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ATR. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $172.00 price objective (down previously from $182.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AptarGroup currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.60.

AptarGroup Stock Up 0.3%

AptarGroup stock traded up $0.42 on Monday, hitting $140.91. 428,743 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 449,430. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.57. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $153.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.03. AptarGroup has a 1 year low of $130.85 and a 1 year high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $966.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.06 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 10.84%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AptarGroup will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $503,646.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,183,433.06. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Hedi Tlili sold 3,614 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.96, for a total value of $563,639.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,748.84. This represents a 27.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,585 shares of company stock worth $2,418,028 in the last 90 days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ATR. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,961 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,880,000 after buying an additional 7,575 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 603 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,819 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,857,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 119,687 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,803,000 after buying an additional 16,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,837 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in 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.