MQS Management LLC Takes $369,000 Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,622 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ATR. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 17,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in AptarGroup by 167.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 6,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,186 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in AptarGroup in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,038,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in AptarGroup by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 109,060 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,482,000 after acquiring an additional 5,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in shares of AptarGroup by 90.2% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 19,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,737,000 after acquiring an additional 9,021 shares during the period. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AptarGroup from $163.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

NYSE ATR opened at $156.87 on Friday. AptarGroup, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.36 and a twelve month high of $158.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.66, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.29.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $910.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 9.00%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from AptarGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In related news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other AptarGroup news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total value of $117,248.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,956,701.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.