Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 3,302 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Key Points

• The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board sold 3,302 shares of AptarGroup, reducing its stake by 17.6% to a total of 15,445 shares valued at approximately $2.29 million.
• Insider selling was reported, with Xiangwei Gong selling 7,000 shares and Kimberly Chainey selling 1,671 shares, indicating a decrease in insider ownership as insiders sold a total of 15,585 shares worth over $2.4 million in the last 90 days.
• AptarGroup's stock is rated as a buy by the majority of Wall Street analysts, with a consensus price target of $174.60 despite some recent reductions in price targets.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 17.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,445 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,302 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in AptarGroup were worth $2,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings 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 worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake 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 worth $89,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,000. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $153.00 target price (down previously from $173.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $172.00 target price (down previously from $182.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Monday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AptarGroup news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owned 10,265 shares in the company, valued at $1,606,369.85. This represents a 40.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.79, for a total value of $255,312.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,694,135.52. This represents a 13.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,585 shares of company stock worth $2,418,028. Insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

AptarGroup Price Performance

AptarGroup stock opened at $140.52 on Friday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.85 and a 12 month high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $154.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.16. The company has a market cap of $9.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57.

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. The firm had revenue of $966.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.06 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 10.84%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

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

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