Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 139,666 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,941,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ATR. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Huntington National Bank increased its position in AptarGroup by 312.0% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new position in AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in AptarGroup by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in AptarGroup by 310.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 591 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ATR. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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 equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.60.

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR stock opened at $146.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $151.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $158.98. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.96 and a 12-month high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.