Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reissued their outperform rating on shares of Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $240.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $225.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Avery Dennison from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Avery Dennison from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America downgraded Avery Dennison from a buy rating to an underperform rating and set a $208.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Avery Dennison from $223.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $223.60.

Avery Dennison Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:AVY traded up $1.58 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $218.74. 5,498 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 438,661. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Avery Dennison has a one year low of $158.93 and a one year high of $225.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $200.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.90.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.16. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 32.59%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Avery Dennison will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Avery Dennison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ryan D. Yost sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.29, for a total value of $298,606.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $606,383.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 8,168 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.36, for a total value of $1,775,396.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 321,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,878,414.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,879 shares of company stock valued at $4,217,705 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avery Dennison

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Avery Dennison during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Avery Dennison in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avery Dennison in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avery Dennison in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of Avery Dennison by 164.4% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.