Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 3,900 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 40.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $1,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ATR. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 7.8% in the third quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 3.2% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 194,028 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,261,000 after buying an additional 5,931 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 1.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,364 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 20.7% in the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 12,797 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after buying an additional 2,191 shares in the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.67, for a total value of $4,533,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,528,930.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Monnas Giovanna Kampouri sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.45, for a total transaction of $284,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,374,357.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.67, for a total value of $4,533,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,528,930.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,500 shares of company stock worth $5,318,280 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ATR. Robert W. Baird raised shares of AptarGroup from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $125.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AptarGroup from $157.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th.

AptarGroup Stock Up 2.2 %

ATR opened at $143.33 on Friday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $111.63 and a fifty-two week high of $148.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.97 and a 200-day moving average of $132.13.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. AptarGroup had a net margin of 8.83% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The business had revenue of $838.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $842.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. AptarGroup’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.21 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.19%.

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.