BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets decreased its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 32.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,125 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,693 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in AptarGroup were worth $1,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in AptarGroup by 282.9% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 5,024 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in AptarGroup by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,513 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,494,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in AptarGroup by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,480,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in AptarGroup by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 703,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $110,490,000 after buying an additional 27,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in AptarGroup by 288.5% during the fourth quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,934 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 3,664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 17,771 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total transaction of $2,687,686.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 204,986 shares in the company, valued at $31,002,082.64. The trade was a 7.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 10,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. This represents a 40.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,709 shares of company stock worth $6,224,840 over the last quarter. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $170.00 price objective (up previously from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $178.60.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.3%

AptarGroup stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $156.17. The stock had a trading volume of 260,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,336. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.85 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $148.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.93.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $894.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

AptarGroup 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.