Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com lowered shares of Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

AVY has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Avery Dennison from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America cut shares of Avery Dennison from a buy rating to an underperform rating and set a $208.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $249.00 target price on shares of Avery Dennison in a report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Avery Dennison from $185.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Avery Dennison from $199.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $218.78.

Avery Dennison Price Performance

Shares of AVY stock opened at $224.24 on Wednesday. Avery Dennison has a twelve month low of $158.93 and a twelve month high of $224.24. The company has a market capitalization of $18.06 billion, a PE ratio of 36.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.32.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16. Avery Dennison had a return on equity of 30.97% and a net margin of 6.01%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Avery Dennison will post 9.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avery Dennison Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Avery Dennison’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Ignacio J. Walker sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.90, for a total value of $1,069,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,305,217.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ignacio J. Walker sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.90, for a total transaction of $1,069,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,305,217.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,879 shares of company stock valued at $4,217,705 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avery Dennison

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Avery Dennison by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,683,041,000 after buying an additional 24,670 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Avery Dennison by 12.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,342,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,261,478,000 after purchasing an additional 787,201 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Avery Dennison by 4.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,752,374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $644,658,000 after purchasing an additional 150,945 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,670,469 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $487,857,000 after purchasing an additional 493,857 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Avery Dennison by 38.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,316,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $397,974,000 after buying an additional 643,675 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.