Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) Rating Lowered to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) was downgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $210.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $230.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 1.13% from the company’s previous close.

AVY has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $252.00 price objective (down from $254.00) on shares of Avery Dennison in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Avery Dennison from $241.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Avery Dennison from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $207.00 to $250.00 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Avery Dennison in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $274.60 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Avery Dennison in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Avery Dennison currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.87.

Avery Dennison Stock Down 2.2 %

Avery Dennison stock opened at $207.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.90. Avery Dennison has a fifty-two week low of $165.21 and a fifty-two week high of $233.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $217.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.62.

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.16. Avery Dennison had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 33.44%. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Avery Dennison will post 9.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.95, for a total value of $608,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 304,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,719,936.30. This trade 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. In other news, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.90, for a total value of $2,129,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 304,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,745,870.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Mitchell R. Butier sold 3,000 shares of Avery Dennison stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.95, for a total transaction of $608,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 304,114 shares in the company, valued at $61,719,936.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,108 shares of company stock valued at $12,545,087 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVY. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avery Dennison in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Avery Dennison in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Avery Dennison in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avery Dennison by 1,400.0% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avery Dennison during the first quarter worth $64,000. 94.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.