Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Share Price Crosses Above 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON)’s stock price crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.18 and traded as high as $51.93. Sonoco Products shares last traded at $51.6540, with a volume of 1,991,477 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SON shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America cut shares of 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. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Sonoco Products from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Sonoco Products from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.38.

Sonoco Products Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.46, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.07). The company 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 was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Sonoco Products Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is presently -93.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sonoco Products

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 33,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after buying an additional 5,951 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP grew its stake in Sonoco Products by 209,366.7% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 25,136 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after acquiring an additional 25,124 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Sonoco Products by 1.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 19,238 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $939,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Sonoco Products by 2.0% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 38,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 63.3% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 3,792 shares in the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sonoco Products

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.