AptarGroup's (ATR) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James Financial

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial has lowered its price target for AptarGroup's stock from $182.00 to $172.00, while maintaining an "outperform" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 22.86%.
• AptarGroup reported earnings of $1.66 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue increase of 6.1% year-over-year.
• Insiders have sold a significant amount of shares recently, indicating a 13.10% decrease in one executive's position, which may raise concerns among investors.

Raymond James Financial reissued their outperform rating on shares of AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Free Report) in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $172.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock, down from their prior price target of $182.00.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $174.60.

AptarGroup Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ATR traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $140.91. 428,743 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 377,100. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $154.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.16. AptarGroup has a 12-month low of $130.85 and a 12-month high of $178.03.

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

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $503,646.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,183,433.06. This represents a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 1,671 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.79, for a total transaction of $255,312.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,088 shares in the company, valued at $1,694,135.52. This represents a 13.10% 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. Insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATR. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in AptarGroup by 172.7% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,961 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,880,000 after purchasing an additional 7,575 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings 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 period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of AptarGroup by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,819 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,857,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 119,687 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $18,803,000 after buying an additional 16,949 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 18.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,837 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AptarGroup

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.