Marshall Wace LLP Grows Holdings in Amcor PLC $AMCR

Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Amcor PLC (NYSE:AMCR) by 20.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,931,432 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,039,121 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Amcor were worth $109,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMCR. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Amcor by 377.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of Amcor by 839.8% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 3,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 2,704 shares in the last quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Amcor in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amcor during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Amcor in the second quarter worth about $37,000. 45.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amcor Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE AMCR opened at $8.30 on Friday. Amcor PLC has a 12-month low of $7.66 and a 12-month high of $10.47. The company has a market cap of $19.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.76.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Amcor had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 3.34%.The firm’s revenue was up 71.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Amcor PLC will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio is 152.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMCR. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Amcor from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Amcor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.20 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $11.50 price objective on shares of Amcor in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Amcor in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amcor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.91.

About Amcor

Amcor plc develops, produces, and sells packaging products in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. The company operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The Flexibles segment provides flexible and film packaging products in the food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical, fresh produce, snack food, personal care, and other industries.