AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $181.60.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ATR. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, February 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATR. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AptarGroup Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ATR stock opened at $146.83 on Friday. AptarGroup has a 1-year low of $135.96 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $149.69 and a 200-day moving average of $158.61.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.56% and a net margin of 10.45%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AptarGroup will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

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.