AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%.

AptarGroup has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. AptarGroup has a payout ratio of 27.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AptarGroup to earn $5.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.3%.

AptarGroup Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ATR opened at $159.67 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $163.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.89. AptarGroup has a twelve month low of $128.05 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 10th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total transaction of $162,752.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,324,977.84. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total transaction of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,530,412.80. The trade was a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ATR. Raymond James started coverage on AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Dbs Bank upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $155.00 to $215.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

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.