Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 40,268 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,555,556 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,268 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.34% of AptarGroup worth $248,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AptarGroup by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 16,683 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,621,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in AptarGroup by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,906,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in AptarGroup by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Trading Down 5.8 %

NYSE ATR opened at $140.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 1-year low of $135.96 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $148.57 and a 200-day moving average of $158.49. 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 announced 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ATR. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.60.

AptarGroup 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.