AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Short Interest Update

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 529,200 shares, an increase of 25.2% from the November 30th total of 422,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 282,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AptarGroup news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total value of $162,752.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,324,977.84. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total transaction of $5,088,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,530,412.80. This trade represents a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AptarGroup

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in AptarGroup by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,889,811 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $462,919,000 after purchasing an additional 14,001 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $337,502,000 after buying an additional 479,193 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 13.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,864,198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $298,626,000 after buying an additional 214,097 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AptarGroup by 5.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,515,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $245,444,000 after acquiring an additional 83,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,158,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $185,516,000 after acquiring an additional 82,934 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $155.00 to $215.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $195.00.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ATR opened at $156.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.15. AptarGroup has a one year low of $122.29 and a one year high of $178.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.58.

AptarGroup announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 4.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 24th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 24th. AptarGroup’s payout ratio is 36.14%.

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.