AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.22-1.30 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31. AptarGroup also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.340-5.420 EPS.

AptarGroup Price Performance

ATR traded up $2.39 on Friday, hitting $168.94. 518,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,642. AptarGroup has a fifty-two week low of $120.36 and a fifty-two week high of $169.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $156.93 and its 200 day moving average is $148.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.36.

AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.01. AptarGroup had a net margin of 9.00% and a return on equity of 15.13%. The business had revenue of $910.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $930.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AptarGroup will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

AptarGroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 24th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. AptarGroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.63%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Dbs Bank raised shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of AptarGroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $215.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AptarGroup from $168.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AptarGroup has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $190.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at AptarGroup

In related news, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total transaction of $4,721,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 174,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Xiangwei Gong sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.56, for a total value of $117,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,956,701.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephan B. Tanda sold 32,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.56, for a total value of $4,721,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 174,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,692,852.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,457 shares of company stock valued at $7,314,030 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.