Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Acquires 190 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $4,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in AptarGroup in the 4th quarter valued at $67,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in AptarGroup by 328.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of AptarGroup by 310.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 591 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ATR shares. StockNews.com downgraded AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on AptarGroup from $180.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America cut AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $200.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.60.

AptarGroup Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ATR opened at $146.01 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $145.76 and its 200-day moving average is $157.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.38. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.85 and a 52 week high of $178.03. The company has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a PE ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.59.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 Company 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.