London Co. of Virginia Lowers Stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

London Co. of Virginia lowered its position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,107,733 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,421 shares during the quarter. London Co. of Virginia owned 1.66% of AptarGroup worth $174,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 328.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the fourth quarter worth $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ATR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $170.00 target price (up previously from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $178.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 995 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.42, for a total transaction of $151,657.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,798.42. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 11,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.39, for a total transaction of $1,726,426.31. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 204,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,237,816.54. This represents a 5.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,095 shares of company stock valued at $4,565,770. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.0%

ATR stock opened at $153.30 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.85 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.64.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.04. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.56%. The business had revenue of $887.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $894.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.85%.

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.