Huntington National Bank Grows Stock Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 312.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 281.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in AptarGroup by 446.5% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 4,983.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR opened at $166.69 on Tuesday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1 year low of $122.29 and a 1 year high of $178.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.62.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.14%.

AptarGroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Robert Kuhn sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.18, for a total transaction of $30,036.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,844,599.36. This represents a 0.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.62, for a total value of $500,346.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,165 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,857.30. This trade represents a 9.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,499 shares of company stock worth $6,393,076 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AptarGroup 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.