LPL Financial LLC Buys 4,451 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in AptarGroup by 10.4%, acquiring an additional 4,451 shares, bringing its total holdings to 47,234 shares valued at approximately $6.79 million.
• AptarGroup recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45, payable on August 14th, translating to an annualized yield of 1.3%.
• The company's stock has experienced significant interest from institutional investors, who now own 88.52% of AptarGroup's shares, reflecting a strong confidence in the company's prospects.

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 10.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,234 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,451 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.07% of AptarGroup worth $6,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Utah Retirement Systems increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 10,981 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 9,690 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,522,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.5% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,760,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 1.3% in the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,818 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during 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, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $503,646.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,183,433.06. This trade represents a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the insider owned 10,265 shares of the company's stock, 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 sold a total of 11,971 shares of company stock worth $1,854,388 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

ATR stock traded up $0.46 during trading on Friday, reaching $138.80. 770,504 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 508,809. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.85 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.37.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $966.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $954.06 million. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. AptarGroup's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ATR. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $153.00 target price (down from $173.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $172.00 target price (down from $182.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $174.60.

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.