JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Price Target to $220.00

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $218.00 to $220.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Avery Dennison in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Avery Dennison from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Avery Dennison from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America cut Avery Dennison from a buy rating to an underperform rating and set a $208.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Avery Dennison from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Avery Dennison presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $224.00.

Avery Dennison Stock Up 0.9 %

AVY stock opened at $219.03 on Thursday. Avery Dennison has a 1-year low of $158.93 and a 1-year high of $225.26. The stock has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $200.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.16. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 32.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Avery Dennison will post 9.26 EPS for the current year.

Avery Dennison Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. This is a boost from Avery Dennison’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. Avery Dennison’s payout ratio is presently 47.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.36, for a total transaction of $1,775,396.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 321,487 shares in the company, valued at $69,878,414.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.36, for a total transaction of $1,775,396.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 321,487 shares in the company, valued at $69,878,414.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Julia A. Stewart sold 5,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.26, for a total value of $1,074,202.86. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,014,940.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,879 shares of company stock worth $4,217,705 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avery Dennison

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Avery Dennison during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 164.4% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.