Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Stock Price

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $170.00 to $173.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the industrial products company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.61% from the company's previous close.

ATR has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen raised AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on AptarGroup from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $180.60.

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $156.40. The stock had a trading volume of 243,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,526. AptarGroup has a 52-week low of $130.85 and a 52-week high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $155.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.41. The company has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $887.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $894.26 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 10.41%. AptarGroup's revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AptarGroup will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In related news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 1,671 shares of AptarGroup 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 owned 11,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,694,135.52. This trade represents a 13.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hedi Tlili sold 3,614 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.96, for a total value of $563,639.44. Following the transaction, the insider owned 9,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,462,748.84. The trade was a 27.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798 in the last three months. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATR. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,234 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,393,000 after purchasing an additional 3,802 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 65.3% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 709 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in AptarGroup by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,908 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in AptarGroup by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 5,351 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 141.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,094 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 2,397 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company's stock.

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.