Xiangwei Gong Sells 7,200 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) Stock

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) insider Xiangwei Gong sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.52, for a total value of $1,054,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,900,950.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Xiangwei Gong also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 7th, Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of AptarGroup stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total value of $117,248.00.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATR traded up $3.15 on Thursday, reaching $147.05. 277,518 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 299,074. AptarGroup, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.36 and a fifty-two week high of $151.73. The company’s 50 day moving average is $144.33 and its 200-day moving average is $142.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $910.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $930.15 million. AptarGroup had a return on equity of 15.13% and a net margin of 9.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. This is a positive change from AptarGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 25th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AptarGroup from $163.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on AptarGroup from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, William Blair raised AptarGroup from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th.

Institutional Trading of AptarGroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ATR. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth $1,102,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of AptarGroup during the fourth quarter worth $2,287,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of AptarGroup by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 14,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in AptarGroup by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 587,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,644,000 after buying an additional 96,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its position in AptarGroup by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 12,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,498,000 after buying an additional 3,269 shares during the last quarter. 88.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AptarGroup Company 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.