Wells Fargo & Company Cuts AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Price Target to $180.00

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $185.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ATR. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America cut shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

AptarGroup Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ATR opened at $153.82 on Monday. AptarGroup has a one year low of $122.97 and a one year high of $178.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 10th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total value of $162,752.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,324,977.84. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total value of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,530,412.80. The trade was a 14.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AptarGroup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in AptarGroup in the third quarter worth $108,239,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in AptarGroup by 111.0% during the second quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,075,168 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,394,000 after buying an additional 565,511 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in AptarGroup by 29.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,106,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $337,502,000 after buying an additional 479,193 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in AptarGroup by 182.1% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 538,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,315,000 after buying an additional 347,800 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in AptarGroup by 13.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,864,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $298,626,000 after buying an additional 214,097 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% 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.