AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Dbs Bank

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Dbs Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.00.

AptarGroup Stock Up 1.1 %

ATR stock opened at $167.89 on Wednesday. AptarGroup has a 52 week low of $120.36 and a 52 week high of $169.65. The company has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $154.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $910.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a net margin of 9.00% and a return on equity of 15.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AptarGroup will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,692,852.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total value of $4,721,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hedi Tlili sold 1,375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.54, for a total value of $209,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,672.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AptarGroup

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in AptarGroup by 446.5% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in AptarGroup by 281.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in AptarGroup in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in AptarGroup by 4,983.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.