AptarGroup, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:ATR)

AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 5th.

AptarGroup has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. AptarGroup has a dividend payout ratio of 27.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect AptarGroup to earn $5.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.3%.

AptarGroup Stock Performance

NYSE ATR opened at $158.06 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $162.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $158.02. AptarGroup has a fifty-two week low of $128.05 and a fifty-two week high of $178.03. The company has a market cap of $10.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.62.

AptarGroup declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 10th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the industrial products company to buy up to 4.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AptarGroup news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 30,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.60, for a total value of $5,088,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at $29,530,412.80. The trade was a 14.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kimberly Chainey sold 964 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.83, for a total transaction of $162,752.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,324,977.84. The trade was a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Dbs Bank raised shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of AptarGroup from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lowered shares of AptarGroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $173.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of AptarGroup from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on shares of AptarGroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

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.