Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Lowers Position in 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 cut its position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) by 17.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 33.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,563 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $389,854,000 after buying an additional 617,365 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 297.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 473,021 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $74,312,000 after buying an additional 353,935 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,219,191 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $329,284,000 after buying an additional 247,519 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 20,143.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 202,835 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $300,970,000 after buying an additional 201,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,941,000. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

NYSE ATR traded down $0.13 on Tuesday, hitting $139.74. 71,723 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 374,870. The business's fifty day moving average is $153.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.78. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.85 and a 12 month high of $178.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

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 sale, the insider owned 10,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,606,369.85. The trade was a 40.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total transaction of $503,646.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 33,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,183,433.06. The trade was a 8.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,585 shares of company stock worth $2,418,028. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $153.00 target price (down previously 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 previously 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AptarGroup has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.60.

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.