Xiangwei Gong Sells 7,000 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Stock

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. This represents a 40.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR stock traded down $0.67 on Friday, hitting $155.99. 103,725 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,191. The stock has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.58. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.85 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $148.20 and a 200-day moving average of $155.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $887.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $894.26 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.56% and a net margin of 10.45%. The firm's revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup's dividend payout ratio is 32.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,207,015 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,132,222,000 after buying an additional 58,777 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,563 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $389,854,000 after acquiring an additional 617,365 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,219,191 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $329,284,000 after acquiring an additional 247,519 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,555,556 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $248,570,000 after purchasing an additional 40,268 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,753 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $189,895,000 after purchasing an additional 50,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ATR. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $170.00 price objective (up from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $178.60.

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.

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