Alliancebernstein L.P. Decreases Holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 88,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,508 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $13,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter worth $116,265,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $22,925,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,941,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AptarGroup by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,515,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,444,000 after acquiring an additional 83,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in AptarGroup by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 598,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,076,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ATR. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.60.

AptarGroup Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ATR opened at $133.25 on Wednesday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.85 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $147.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued 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 1.35%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.