Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 539 Shares of Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 539 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Avery Dennison worth $10,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 102,432.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,947,083 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $352,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945,184 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avery Dennison during the fourth quarter valued at about $153,787,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 55.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,788,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $326,673,000 after acquiring an additional 639,521 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 48.0% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,748,006 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $304,099,000 after acquiring an additional 566,938 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Avery Dennison by 22.7% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,670,469 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $487,857,000 after purchasing an additional 493,857 shares in the last quarter. 94.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avery Dennison

In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.36, for a total transaction of $1,775,396.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 321,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,878,414.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.36, for a total value of $1,775,396.48. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 321,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,878,414.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Julia A. Stewart sold 5,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.26, for a total value of $1,074,202.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,014,940.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,879 shares of company stock valued at $4,217,705 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AVY shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Avery Dennison from $223.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $199.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Avery Dennison from $185.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut Avery Dennison from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $208.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avery Dennison currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.00.

Avery Dennison Trading Down 0.4 %

AVY traded down $0.77 during trading on Thursday, reaching $214.75. The company had a trading volume of 9,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 428,208. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Avery Dennison Co. has a 52 week low of $158.93 and a 52 week high of $225.26. The stock has a market cap of $17.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.71, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.00.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.16. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 30.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Avery Dennison Co. will post 9.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Avery Dennison’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.