Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Decreases Stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. owned 0.08% of AptarGroup worth $7,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ATR. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 92.4% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 88,871 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,112,000 after acquiring an additional 42,682 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,665 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,709,000 after buying an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AptarGroup by 110.7% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 15,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 8,271 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in AptarGroup by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 28,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,593,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in AptarGroup by 95.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ATR. William Blair upgraded AptarGroup from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AptarGroup from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on AptarGroup from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ATR traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $138.14. 31,364 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 299,237. The stock has a market cap of $9.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.57. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $111.63 and a fifty-two week high of $151.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $146.13 and a 200-day moving average of $138.89.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.40 million. AptarGroup had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 15.06%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.19%.

Insider Transactions at AptarGroup

In related news, insider Marc Prieur sold 3,200 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.92, for a total value of $476,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,616 shares in the company, valued at $2,474,454.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Marc Prieur sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.92, for a total transaction of $476,544.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,616 shares in the company, valued at $2,474,454.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hedi Tlili sold 4,634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.09, for a total value of $672,347.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,799.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,659 shares of company stock valued at $1,269,976. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.