Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) Short Interest Update

Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) saw a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a decline of 19.8% from the January 31st total of 1,920,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 659,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avery Dennison

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the fourth quarter worth about $434,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Avery Dennison in the 4th quarter valued at about $21,241,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Avery Dennison during the 4th quarter worth approximately $543,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Avery Dennison during the fourth quarter worth approximately $116,000. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Avery Dennison by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AVY. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price target on shares of Avery Dennison in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets set a $226.00 target price on shares of Avery Dennison in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Avery Dennison from $228.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Avery Dennison from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Avery Dennison from $238.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avery Dennison presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.51.

Avery Dennison Stock Up 0.9 %

Avery Dennison stock traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $183.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,055,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,993. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.36. The company has a market cap of $14.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.89. Avery Dennison has a fifty-two week low of $178.72 and a fifty-two week high of $233.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.39 by ($0.01). Avery Dennison had a return on equity of 33.06% and a net margin of 8.05%. On average, research analysts expect that Avery Dennison will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Avery Dennison’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.37%.

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.