BMO Capital Markets Lowers Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Price Target to $216.00

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY - Free Report) had its price target reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $226.00 to $216.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company's stock.

AVY has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Avery Dennison from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Avery Dennison from $228.00 to $202.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Avery Dennison from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $205.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Avery Dennison from $208.00 to $194.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Avery Dennison from $238.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.80.

Avery Dennison Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AVY traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $170.61. The stock had a trading volume of 214,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 594,778. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $175.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $188.99. The firm has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.85. Avery Dennison has a fifty-two week low of $157.00 and a fifty-two week high of $233.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.15 billion. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 33.06%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Avery Dennison will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

Avery Dennison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. This is a boost from Avery Dennison's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Avery Dennison's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 12,969 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $2,358,412.65. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 303,331 shares in the company, valued at $55,160,742.35. This trade represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avery Dennison

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,681,709 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,811,738,000 after buying an additional 33,149 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,225,309 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $790,683,000 after buying an additional 150,572 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,185,732 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $409,014,000 after buying an additional 250,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,102,331 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $392,445,000 after buying an additional 13,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,841,520 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $344,603,000 after buying an additional 71,435 shares during the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.