AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Releases Q4 Earnings Guidance

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.22-1.30 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.31. AptarGroup also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.340-5.420 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Dbs Bank upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $190.00.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of ATR stock traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $166.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 547,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 291,544. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 35.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $148.72. AptarGroup has a 12-month low of $120.36 and a 12-month high of $169.65.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $910.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 9.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AptarGroup will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 24th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.63%.

AptarGroup announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 10th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total value of $117,248.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,956,701.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total transaction of $117,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,956,701.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at $25,692,852.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.