Elefante Mark B Purchases New Shares in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Elefante Mark B bought a new stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 22,101 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $3,472,000. AptarGroup comprises 3.2% of Elefante Mark B's portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 650 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 16,683 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,906,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James cut their price objective on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $170.00 price objective (up from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, February 10th. One equities research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $178.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other news, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 995 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.42, for a total transaction of $151,657.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,301 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,798.42. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 11,329 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.39, for a total value of $1,726,426.31. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 204,986 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,237,816.54. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,095 shares of company stock valued at $4,565,770. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AptarGroup Trading Up 1.4%

ATR traded up $2.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $155.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 352,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,900. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.85 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $146.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.58.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.04. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.56% and a net margin of 10.45%. The firm had revenue of $887.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $894.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.85%.

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.