Duality Advisers LP Acquires Shares of 13,018 Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY)

Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Avery Dennison Co. (NYSE:AVY) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,632,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Avery Dennison in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Avery Dennison in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in Avery Dennison by 164.4% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. purchased a new position in Avery Dennison in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AVY. StockNews.com lowered shares of Avery Dennison from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Avery Dennison from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $208.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $223.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $199.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Avery Dennison from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avery Dennison has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.00.

Avery Dennison Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVY traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $210.74. 60,662 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 426,296. Avery Dennison Co. has a 52 week low of $158.93 and a 52 week high of $225.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $214.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $199.52. The company has a market cap of $16.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.90.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.16. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 6.01% and a return on equity of 30.97%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Avery Dennison Co. will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Avery Dennison’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avery Dennison news, Director Julia A. Stewart sold 5,311 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.26, for a total value of $1,074,202.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,940.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Julia A. Stewart sold 5,311 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,014,940.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ignacio J. Walker sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.90, for a total transaction of $1,069,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,305,217.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,879 shares of company stock worth $4,217,705 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.