Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 105,000 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 17.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 703,830 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 105,000 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 1.07% of AptarGroup worth $104,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in AptarGroup by 155.0% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 278 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 328.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ATR. Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $170.00 target price (up from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.60.

AptarGroup Stock Down 2.2%

ATR stock traded down $3.43 on Friday, reaching $150.92. 361,176 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 315,804. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.28. The company has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.59. AptarGroup, Inc. has a one year low of $130.85 and a one year high of $178.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $887.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $894.26 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.56% and a net margin of 10.45%. The company's revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup's payout ratio is 32.85%.

Insider Activity

In other AptarGroup news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.49, for a total transaction of $1,095,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. The trade was a 40.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.79, for a total value of $255,312.09. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,088 shares in the company, valued at $1,694,135.52. The trade was a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798 over the last 90 days. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.