AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $215.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $155.00.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AptarGroup from $163.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of AptarGroup stock opened at $167.89 on Monday. AptarGroup has a one year low of $120.36 and a one year high of $169.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $154.24 and its 200 day moving average is $147.83. The stock has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.36.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $910.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 9.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AptarGroup will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.63%.

AptarGroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 10th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to reacquire up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total value of $4,721,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Hedi Tlili sold 1,375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.54, for a total transaction of $209,742.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,672.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at $25,692,852.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AptarGroup

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 3.6% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,361 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Argent Trust Co boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 6.1% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 1,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 25.0% in the second quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 6.0% in the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,058 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delaney Dennis R boosted its holdings in AptarGroup by 0.3% in the second quarter. Delaney Dennis R now owns 45,774 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,445,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.