Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on SON. Weiss Ratings lowered Sonoco Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Bank of America cut Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Sonoco Products from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Sonoco Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SON opened at $50.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.35. Sonoco Products has a twelve month low of $38.65 and a twelve month high of $60.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.53.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Sonoco Products had a negative net margin of 3.08% and a positive return on equity of 16.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Sonoco Products will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sonoco Products

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter worth $657,016,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Sonoco Products during the second quarter worth $204,968,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Sonoco Products during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,793,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Sonoco Products by 236.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 732,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,599,000 after purchasing an additional 514,289 shares during the period. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Sonoco Products by 608.5% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 347,853 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,815,000 after purchasing an additional 298,756 shares during the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sonoco Products Company Profile

Sonoco Products Company is a global packaging company headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. Founded in 1899 as the Southern Novelty Company, it has developed from a producer of paper cones for the textile industry into a diversified provider of packaging solutions serving consumer, industrial and commercial customers.

The company manufactures a broad range of products, including composite cans and tubes, paperboard packaging, flexible packaging, thermoformed packaging, rigid plastic containers, protective packaging and packaging components.