AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR – Get Free Report) and Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
88.5% of AptarGroup shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Ball shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of AptarGroup shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Ball shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares AptarGroup and Ball’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| AptarGroup | 9.22% | 13.31% | 6.96% |
| Ball | 6.61% | 18.76% | 5.35% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for AptarGroup and Ball, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| AptarGroup | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2.60 |
| Ball | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 2.69 |
AptarGroup presently has a consensus price target of $164.14, suggesting a potential upside of 29.52%. Ball has a consensus price target of $71.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.93%. Given AptarGroup’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AptarGroup is more favorable than Ball.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares AptarGroup and Ball”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| AptarGroup | $3.78 billion | 2.13 | $392.79 million | $5.53 | 22.92 |
| Ball | $13.16 billion | 1.29 | $912.00 million | $3.53 | 18.13 |
Ball has higher revenue and earnings than AptarGroup. Ball is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AptarGroup, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
AptarGroup has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ball has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
AptarGroup pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AptarGroup pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ball pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. AptarGroup has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years. AptarGroup is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
AptarGroup beats Ball on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About AptarGroup
AptarGroup, Inc. designs and manufactures a range of drug delivery, consumer product dispensing, and active material science solutions and services for the pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, home care, and food and beverage markets. The company operates through Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures segments. It also provides pumps for nasal allergy treatments; and metered dose inhaler valves for respiratory ailments, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; elastomer for injectable primary packaging components; and active material science solutions. In addition, the company offers dispensing pumps, closures, elastomeric components, and aerosol valves to the digital health solutions. It primarily sells its products and services in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. AptarGroup, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
About Ball
Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages. It also manufactures and sells extruded aluminum aerosol containers, recloseable aluminum bottles, aluminum cups, and aluminum slugs. Ball Corporation was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado.
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