Barclays PLC Increases Stock Holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 83.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,138 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,639 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $8,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 961 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 0.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,906,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ATR. Raymond James dropped their price objective on AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.60.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of ATR opened at $148.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $145.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.38. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.85 and a fifty-two week high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is currently 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.