Mackenzie Financial Corp Acquires 54,804 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp significantly increased its stake in AptarGroup, Inc. by 284.5%, acquiring an additional 54,804 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total to 74,064 shares valued at approximately $10.99 million.
• Multiple hedge funds, including LPL Financial and TD Asset Management, also boosted their holdings in AptarGroup, indicating strong institutional interest with 88.52% of the stock owned by these investors.
• AptarGroup reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.66 per share for the most recent quarter, with revenue rising to $966.01 million, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share scheduled for August 14th.

Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 284.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,064 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,804 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 0.11% of AptarGroup worth $10,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 42,783 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 6,742 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,555,556 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $248,570,000 after acquiring an additional 40,268 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at $416,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at $3,551,000. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective 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 objective on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $180.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 17,771 shares of AptarGroup 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 directly owned 204,986 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,002,082.64. The trade was a 7.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 1,671 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 11,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

NYSE:ATR traded down $16.04 on Friday, hitting $141.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,012,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,405. The stock has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $155.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.58. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.85 and a 52-week high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $966.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $954.06 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 10.84%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 24th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. AptarGroup's payout ratio is presently 30.98%.

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.