Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

AVY has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Avery Dennison in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $274.60 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Avery Dennison from $252.00 to $247.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised Avery Dennison from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $207.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $253.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Avery Dennison from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $262.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avery Dennison currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.42.

Avery Dennison Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AVY opened at $207.16 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $216.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.44. Avery Dennison has a 52-week low of $165.21 and a 52-week high of $233.48. The firm has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.88.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.32 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Avery Dennison had a return on equity of 33.44% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.10 EPS. Research analysts predict that Avery Dennison will post 9.41 EPS for the current year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. Avery Dennison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 3,000 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.95, for a total transaction of $608,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 304,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,719,936.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.90, for a total value of $2,129,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 304,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,745,870.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.95, for a total transaction of $608,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 304,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,719,936.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 59,108 shares of company stock worth $12,545,087. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avery Dennison

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Avery Dennison during the first quarter worth about $102,117,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Avery Dennison during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,837,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Avery Dennison by 795.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 160,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,190,000 after buying an additional 142,348 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Avery Dennison by 179.5% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 216,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,258,000 after buying an additional 138,808 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Avery Dennison by 51.9% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 240,096 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $52,497,000 after acquiring an additional 81,993 shares in the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison Corporation operates as a materials science and digital identification solutions company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Latin, America, and internationally. It provides pressure-sensitive materials comprising papers, plastic films, metal foils, and fabrics; performance tapes products, including tapes for wire harnessing, as well as cable wrapping for automotive, electrical, and general industrial applications; mechanical fasteners, which are precision-extruded and injection-molded plastic devices used in various automotive, general industrial, and retail applications; and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products under the Fasson, JAC, Yongle, and Avery Dennison brands.