River Road Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 981 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.06% of AptarGroup worth $4,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,146,231 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $893,565,000 after acquiring an additional 53,625 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 10.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,608,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $576,242,000 after buying an additional 420,457 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 5.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,159,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $300,224,000 after acquiring an additional 171,060 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,438,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $177,820,000 after acquiring an additional 21,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,371,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $171,447,000 after acquiring an additional 225,296 shares in the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.67, for a total value of $4,533,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,528,930.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Monnas Giovanna Kampouri sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.45, for a total value of $284,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,374,357.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.67, for a total transaction of $4,533,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,528,930.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,318,280 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ATR. Robert W. Baird upgraded AptarGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th.

AptarGroup Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ATR opened at $138.00 on Thursday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 52 week low of $111.63 and a 52 week high of $145.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $140.41 and a 200-day moving average of $131.39.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $838.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $842.50 million. AptarGroup had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 14.46%. AptarGroup’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. Analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.59%.

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.