New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $8.54 Million Stock Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 48.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 53,100 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.09% of AptarGroup worth $8,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in AptarGroup by 155.0% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in AptarGroup by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in AptarGroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in AptarGroup by 116.9% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In other AptarGroup news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.49, for a total transaction of $1,095,430.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,606,369.85. This trade represents a 40.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.62, for a total value of $503,646.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 33,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,183,433.06. This trade represents a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,680 shares of company stock worth $6,983,798. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AptarGroup from $170.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on AptarGroup from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AptarGroup presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $180.60.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

NYSE:ATR opened at $156.40 on Friday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.85 and a 52-week high of $178.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $155.53 and its 200 day moving average is $151.41. 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 $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57.

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

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is 32.85%.

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.