State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,566 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $3,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. South Dakota Investment Council purchased a new position in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,101,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $302,000. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $734,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded AptarGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AptarGroup from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th.

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR opened at $143.28 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $140.97 and a 200 day moving average of $132.09. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 52-week low of $111.63 and a 52-week high of $148.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 8.83%. The company had revenue of $838.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $842.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. AptarGroup’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.21 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is currently 35.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction 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 approximately $22,528,930.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AptarGroup news, insider Gael Touya sold 3,500 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.84, for a total transaction of $499,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,774,569.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.67, for a total value of $4,533,440.00. Following 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 sold a total of 37,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,318,280 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.