Benson Investment Management Company Inc. Takes Position in Sonoco Products Company $SON

Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 75,245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,000. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Sonoco Products as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 14.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,591,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $169,646,000 after purchasing an additional 450,792 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 2.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,655,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,439,000 after purchasing an additional 60,746 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 9.8% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,308,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,074,000 after purchasing an additional 206,749 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 3.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,401,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,186,000 after purchasing an additional 43,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 739.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,152,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,250 shares in the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SON. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Sonoco Products in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Sonoco Products from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sonoco Products currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.25.

Sonoco Products Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of SON opened at $39.62 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.25. Sonoco Products Company has a 52 week low of $39.46 and a 52 week high of $55.33.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 20.46%. Sonoco Products has set its Q2 2022 guidance at $1.60-$1.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sonoco Products Company will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.99%.

Sonoco Products Profile

Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging segments. The Consumer Packaging segment offers round and shaped rigid paper, steel, and plastic containers; metal and peelable membrane ends, closures, and components; thermoformed plastic trays and enclosures; and high-barrier flexible packaging products.