Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Cuts Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,419 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 460 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $8,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EULAV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 288,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,264,000 after acquiring an additional 58,599 shares in the last quarter. Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth $225,000. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT acquired a new stake in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at $302,000. 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 valued at $2,621,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 689.4% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 64,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,139,000 after buying an additional 56,365 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ATR shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. 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. Raymond James started coverage on AptarGroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

AptarGroup Trading Down 8.4 %

Shares of ATR opened at $143.26 on Friday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.51 and a fifty-two week high of $178.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $160.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 9.40%. As a group, analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.14%.

Insider Activity at AptarGroup

In other AptarGroup news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total transaction of $162,752.12. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.