Short Interest in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Increases By 25.0%

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 756,500 shares, a growth of 25.0% from the February 13th total of 605,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 358,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target 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, StockNews.com downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.60.

AptarGroup Stock Down 1.1 %

ATR opened at $146.27 on Wednesday. AptarGroup has a 1-year low of $135.96 and a 1-year high of $178.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.96. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, 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 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 expect that AptarGroup will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued 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 currently 32.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $116,265,000. FMR LLC grew its position in AptarGroup by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,481,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $389,854,000 after acquiring an additional 617,365 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in AptarGroup by 297.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 473,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,312,000 after acquiring an additional 353,935 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,925,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,941,000. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

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.