Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Holdings in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $3,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in AptarGroup by 29.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,106,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $337,502,000 after acquiring an additional 479,193 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,864,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $298,626,000 after purchasing an additional 214,097 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 88.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 230,775 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,968,000 after purchasing an additional 108,175 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $245,444,000 after buying an additional 83,452 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in AptarGroup by 7.7% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,158,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $185,516,000 after buying an additional 82,934 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AptarGroup Stock Up 1.1 %

AptarGroup stock opened at $152.87 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.15. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.96 and a twelve month high of $178.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 5th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America lowered AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.60.

AptarGroup 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.