Quest Partners LLC Cuts Stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 11,219 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ATR. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 29.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,106,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $337,502,000 after buying an additional 479,193 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 111.0% in the second quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,075,168 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,394,000 after buying an additional 565,511 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 1.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 953,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $152,813,000 after buying an additional 17,975 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 35.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 805,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,395,000 after buying an additional 212,886 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 9.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 716,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,917,000 after buying an additional 64,288 shares during the period. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on ATR shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.00.

AptarGroup Stock Up 0.6 %

ATR stock opened at $172.59 on Tuesday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.29 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.66, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.03.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 24th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 24th. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is currently 36.14%.

AptarGroup declared that its board 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 usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at AptarGroup

In other news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total transaction of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,530,412.80. This trade represents a 14.70 % 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 hyperlink. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.62, for a total transaction of $500,346.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,857.30. The trade was a 9.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,639 shares of company stock valued at $5,960,841. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.