Schroder Investment Management Group Cuts Holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Schroder Investment Management Group lowered its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 34.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 230,898 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 121,671 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $36,189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at $116,265,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $22,925,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $21,941,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AptarGroup by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,515,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,444,000 after buying an additional 83,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in AptarGroup by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 598,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,076,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ATR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.60.

AptarGroup Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE ATR opened at $149.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $135.96 and a fifty-two week high of $178.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.67. 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 (NYSE:ATR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.56%. On average, analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is 32.49%.

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.