Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Raises Stock Position in AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $3,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ATR. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in AptarGroup by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,361 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup by 6.1% during the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 1,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Adirondack Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 25.0% in the second quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Delaney Dennis R lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 0.3% in the second quarter. Delaney Dennis R now owns 45,774 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,445,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in AptarGroup by 1.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,002 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,583,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at AptarGroup

In other news, insider Hedi Tlili sold 1,375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.54, for a total transaction of $209,742.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,672.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other AptarGroup news, insider Hedi Tlili sold 1,375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.54, for a total value of $209,742.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,430,672.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Gael Touya sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.62, for a total value of $500,346.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,857.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ATR opened at $155.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.36 and a 12-month high of $158.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.41.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AptarGroup Increases Dividend

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

About AptarGroup

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.