AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 526,700 shares, a drop of 13.1% from the January 15th total of 606,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 305,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ATR shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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 cut shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AptarGroup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in AptarGroup by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 209,751 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,952,000 after buying an additional 13,167 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $408,000. Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,537,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in AptarGroup by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,114,000 after buying an additional 1,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AptarGroup stock traded up $2.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $147.03. The stock had a trading volume of 489,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 378,813. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.94. The stock has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.15. AptarGroup has a 12 month low of $135.96 and a 12 month high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.62%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AptarGroup will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is 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.