Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY)

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $175.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

AVY has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Avery Dennison from $238.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on shares of Avery Dennison in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Avery Dennison from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $205.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 price objective (down previously from $218.00) on shares of Avery Dennison in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $226.00 target price on Avery Dennison in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avery Dennison presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.47.

Avery Dennison Price Performance

Shares of AVY opened at $175.21 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $177.15 and its 200 day moving average is $190.52. Avery Dennison has a 12-month low of $157.00 and a 12-month high of $233.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $13.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.85.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by ($0.01). Avery Dennison had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 33.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Avery Dennison will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Avery Dennison’s payout ratio is 40.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 12,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total transaction of $2,358,412.65. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 303,331 shares in the company, valued at $55,160,742.35. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.84% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avery Dennison

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Avery Dennison in the fourth quarter worth $188,643,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Avery Dennison by 19,370.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 428,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,301,000 after acquiring an additional 426,528 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Avery Dennison in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,521,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Avery Dennison by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,185,732 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $409,014,000 after buying an additional 250,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avery Dennison by 1,305.6% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 264,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,065,000 after buying an additional 245,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

About Avery Dennison

Avery Dennison Corporation operates as a materials science and digital identification solutions company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Latin, America, and internationally. It provides pressure-sensitive materials comprising papers, plastic films, metal foils, and fabrics; performance tapes products, including tapes for wire harnessing, as well as cable wrapping for automotive, electrical, and general industrial applications; mechanical fasteners, which are precision-extruded and injection-molded plastic devices used in various automotive, general industrial, and retail applications; and other pressure-sensitive adhesive-based materials and converted products under the Fasson, JAC, Yongle, and Avery Dennison brands.