Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 7,582 Shares of Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 176,893 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 7,582 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.22% of Avery Dennison worth $33,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AVY. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 278.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,289,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avery Dennison during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,595 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 74.9% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,498 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bill Few Associates Inc. raised its stake in Avery Dennison by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 13,301 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Avery Dennison

In other Avery Dennison news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 12,969 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $2,358,412.65. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 303,331 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,160,742.35. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.84% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avery Dennison Price Performance

Shares of Avery Dennison stock traded up $3.50 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $181.05. 211,389 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 611,736. The stock has a market cap of $14.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $173.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.47. Avery Dennison Co. has a 12 month low of $157.00 and a 12 month high of $233.48.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.32 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 33.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avery Dennison Co. will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Avery Dennison Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This is a positive change from Avery Dennison's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Avery Dennison's payout ratio is 43.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on AVY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Avery Dennison from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $208.00 to $194.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $226.00 to $216.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avery Dennison from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $207.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.60.

About Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison Corporation operates as a materials science and digital identification solutions company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Latin, America, and internationally. It provides pressure-sensitive materials comprising papers, plastic films, metal foils, and fabrics; performance tapes products, including tapes for wire harnessing, as well as cable wrapping for automotive, electrical, and general industrial applications; mechanical fasteners, which are precision-extruded and injection-molded plastic devices used in various automotive, general industrial, and retail applications; and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products under the Fasson, JAC, Yongle, and Avery Dennison brands.