Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Decreases Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in AptarGroup by 0.4%, now holding approximately 1.82% of the company, valued at about $178.6 million.
• AptarGroup's quarterly earnings exceeded analyst expectations with earnings per share of $1.20, but revenue declined by 3.1% year-over-year, totaling $887.31 million.
• Several analysts have upgraded AptarGroup's rating to "buy", with a consensus target price of $180.60, reflecting positive outlooks on the company's performance.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,203,543 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,210 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 1.82% of AptarGroup worth $178,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ATR. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,513 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 172.7% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,961 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 7,575 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 603 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,819 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 119,687 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $18,803,000 after acquiring an additional 16,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on AptarGroup from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $180.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other news, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.42, for a total transaction of $151,657.90. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,301 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,008,798.42. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.49, for a total transaction of $1,095,430.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. The trade was a 40.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

ATR traded down $14.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $142.53. 670,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 367,605. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $156.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.85 and a 1-year high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business had revenue of $966.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. AptarGroup's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

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.