Shares of Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON – Get Rating) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.14.
SON has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com cut Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 22nd. TheStreet lowered Sonoco Products from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 19th. Citigroup started coverage on Sonoco Products in a research note on Friday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sonoco Products from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 19th.
Sonoco Products Stock Up 3.2 %
SON opened at $59.23 on Wednesday. Sonoco Products has a 1-year low of $51.52 and a 1-year high of $67.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -151.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.31 and a 200-day moving average of $58.62.
Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Sonoco Products had a positive return on equity of 23.98% and a negative net margin of 0.71%. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sonoco Products’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sonoco Products will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Sonoco Products news, CFO Julie C. Albrecht sold 1,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.89, for a total transaction of $104,779.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 54,091 shares in the company, valued at $3,347,691.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Sonoco Products
Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 3.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,991,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $687,633,000 after purchasing an additional 362,516 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,583,807 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after acquiring an additional 164,106 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 13.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,240,829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $515,546,000 after acquiring an additional 972,157 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,757,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $391,210,000 after acquiring an additional 557,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 7.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,102,026 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $131,503,000 after acquiring an additional 141,562 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.06% of the company’s stock.
Sonoco Products Company Profile
Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells industrial and consumer packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates through two segments: Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging. The Consumer Packaging segment round and shaped rigid paper containers; metal and peelable membrane ends and closures; thermoformed plastic trays and containers; printed flexible packaging; and global brand artwork management.