Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) CEO Purchases $922,000.00 in Stock

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) CEO R. Howard Coker bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $46.10 per share, for a total transaction of $922,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 482,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,237,026.50. This represents a 4.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Sonoco Products Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of SON opened at $47.42 on Wednesday. Sonoco Products has a 52-week low of $44.36 and a 52-week high of $61.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by ($0.01). Sonoco Products had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 2.60%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sonoco Products will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. Sonoco Products’s payout ratio is 126.06%.

Institutional Trading of Sonoco Products

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,128,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $543,638,000 after purchasing an additional 120,843 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,140,471 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $153,411,000 after purchasing an additional 136,965 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,594,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $126,746,000 after purchasing an additional 10,661 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,863,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,842,000 after purchasing an additional 42,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sonoco Products during the 4th quarter worth about $78,203,000. 77.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SON. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Sonoco Products from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Sonoco Products from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sonoco Products from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Sonoco Products from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Sonoco Products from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sonoco Products currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Sonoco Products Company 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.