Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stake in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,837 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ATR. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in AptarGroup by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 328.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 437 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,216,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 598,830 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,076,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.49, for a total transaction of $1,095,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,265 shares in the company, valued at $1,606,369.85. This represents a 40.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 17,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.24, for a total transaction of $2,687,686.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 204,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,002,082.64. This trade represents a 7.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Price Performance

NYSE:ATR opened at $149.41 on Wednesday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a one year low of $130.85 and a one year high of $178.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $151.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.72.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.04. AptarGroup had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The company had revenue of $887.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $894.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ATR shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $170.00 price objective (up from $162.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $178.60.

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.