Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) Shares Purchased by Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP grew its position in shares of Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY - Free Report) by 115.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,512 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 5,630 shares during the quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP's holdings in Avery Dennison were worth $1,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Avery Dennison by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 122,782 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $22,976,000 after purchasing an additional 23,563 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Avery Dennison by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,501 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,585,000 after acquiring an additional 2,895 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Avery Dennison by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,841,520 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $344,603,000 after acquiring an additional 71,435 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its position in shares of Avery Dennison by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 6,979 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the 4th quarter worth $543,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AVY. Raymond James lowered their price target on Avery Dennison from $208.00 to $194.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Avery Dennison from $226.00 to $216.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Avery Dennison from $207.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Avery Dennison from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Avery Dennison in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "hold" rating and a $175.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 12,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $2,358,412.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 303,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,160,742.35. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.84% of the company's stock.

Avery Dennison Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AVY traded up $1.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $183.27. The stock had a trading volume of 655,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 611,387. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $14.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.98. Avery Dennison Co. has a fifty-two week low of $157.00 and a fifty-two week high of $233.48.

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

Avery Dennison Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. This is an increase from Avery Dennison's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Avery Dennison's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.32%.

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.