Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Buys 41,926 Shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of AptarGroup, Inc. (NYSE:ATR) by 50.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 125,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,926 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in AptarGroup were worth $14,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AptarGroup during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AptarGroup during the first quarter worth $30,000. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in AptarGroup during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in AptarGroup by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA purchased a new stake in AptarGroup in the first quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors own 88.61% of the company’s stock.

AptarGroup Price Performance

Shares of ATR stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $132.55. The company had a trading volume of 251,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,277. AptarGroup, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.23 and a 12-month high of $133.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $120.73 and a 200-day moving average of $117.88.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The industrial products company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. AptarGroup had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 13.04%. The firm had revenue of $895.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $898.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AptarGroup, Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

AptarGroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 27th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from AptarGroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 26th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of AptarGroup from $152.00 to $149.00 in a report on Monday, July 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on AptarGroup in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AptarGroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $130.83.

Insider Activity

In other AptarGroup news, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 2,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.08, for a total transaction of $242,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,467 shares in the company, valued at $2,478,144.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Marc Prieur sold 8,000 shares of AptarGroup stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $968,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,060,388. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Shiela Vinczeller sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.08, for a total value of $242,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,478,144.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,849 shares of company stock valued at $4,317,425 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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 three segments: Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures.