BidaskClub Downgrades AptarGroup, Inc. (ATR) to Buy

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) was downgraded by stock analysts at BidaskClub from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ATR. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of AptarGroup in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank AG reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. KeyCorp reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Jefferies Group LLC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.60.

AptarGroup (ATR) traded up 0.30% during midday trading on Monday, hitting $89.46. The company had a trading volume of 390,203 shares. The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.18 and a 200 day moving average of $79.49. AptarGroup has a 52-week low of $70.32 and a 52-week high of $90.79.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $601.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $591.69 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 9.09%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AptarGroup will post $3.45 EPS for the current year.

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In other AptarGroup news, Director Maritza Gomez Montiel acquired 1,720 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $82.00 per share, for a total transaction of $141,040.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 7,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,512. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director King W. Harris sold 14,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.43, for a total transaction of $1,196,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 189,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,229,478.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,726 shares of company stock valued at $20,588,098 over the last quarter. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 5,710.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,086,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $391,639,000 after buying an additional 4,999,339 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth about $33,791,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 12.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,400,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $261,776,000 after buying an additional 377,227 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 617.1% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. now owns 414,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,883,000 after buying an additional 356,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 6.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,868,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $451,828,000 after buying an additional 355,044 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

About AptarGroup

AptarGroup, Inc is a provider of a range of packaging, dispensing and sealing solutions, primarily for the beauty, personal care, homecare, prescription drug, consumer healthcare, injectables, food and beverage markets. The Company has manufacturing facilities located throughout the world, including North America, Europe, Asia and South America.