Amcor PLC (NYSE:AMCR) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.66 Per Share

Amcor PLC (NYSE:AMCR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.66 per share on Wednesday, December 16th. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 25th. This is a 1.5% increase from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65.

Amcor has a payout ratio of 317.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Amcor to earn $4.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.7%.

Amcor Stock Up 3.5%

Amcor stock opened at $48.58 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.25. Amcor has a one year low of $36.25 and a one year high of $50.94.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.01). Amcor had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amcor will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMCR. UBS Group started coverage on Amcor in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price (up from $47.00) on shares of Amcor in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Amcor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $44.92 price target on shares of Amcor and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Amcor from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.36.

Amcor Company Profile

Amcor plc (NYSE: AMCR) is a global packaging company that develops and produces packaging solutions for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, personal care, household, and other consumer and industrial products. Its offerings include flexible packaging, rigid containers, closures, bottles, specialty cartons, and related packaging systems designed to protect products, support supply chains, and improve convenience and sustainability.

The company serves customers across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and other international markets.