Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 312,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 42,368 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $49,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ATR. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 5,248 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 5.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,515,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $245,444,000 after purchasing an additional 83,452 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 282.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 5,024 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in AptarGroup during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,310,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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, January 6th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.60.

AptarGroup Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ATR opened at $146.83 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $149.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.61. The company has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.56. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $135.96 and a twelve month high of $178.03.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.24. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 15.56%. As a group, analysts expect that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 5th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.49%.

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.