Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Acquires 108,175 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 88.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 230,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 108,175 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.35% of AptarGroup worth $36,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the first quarter worth approximately $227,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in AptarGroup by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,081,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the 1st quarter valued at $269,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of AptarGroup by 53.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 3,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 9.9% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 17,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Stock Up 1.0 %

ATR stock opened at $171.51 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.57. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.29 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $164.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 24th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 24th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.14%.

AptarGroup declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, October 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AptarGroup news, insider Hedi Tlili sold 1,375 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.54, for a total transaction of $209,742.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,672.66. The trade was a 12.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.62, for a total transaction of $500,346.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 32,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,857.30. This represents a 9.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,639 shares of company stock worth $5,960,841. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.