Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Stock Price

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $185.00 to $180.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.66% from the company’s previous close.

ATR has been the topic of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America cut 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. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $188.25.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATR traded down $2.52 during trading on Monday, hitting $152.98. 74,643 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 175,691. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.79. 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 52-week low of $122.37 and a 52-week high of $178.03. The company has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 10th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to purchase up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total transaction of $162,752.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,324,977.84. This trade represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,530,412.80. This 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AptarGroup

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AptarGroup by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 113,503 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,182,000 after buying an additional 34,573 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 40,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,066,000 after acquiring an additional 12,271 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AptarGroup by 5.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 83,452 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 805,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $113,395,000 after purchasing an additional 212,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,106,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $337,502,000 after purchasing an additional 479,193 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

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.