Sonoco Products Company $SON Shares Sold by ARGA Investment Management LP

ARGA Investment Management LP lowered its position in shares of Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON - Free Report) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 291,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 50,044 shares during the quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP owned approximately 0.29% of Sonoco Products worth $14,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WPG Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 93.1% in the first quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 612 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 271.9% in the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 1,777 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Sonoco Products by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $111,000. 77.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sonoco Products Price Performance

Shares of SON stock opened at $48.79 on Wednesday. Sonoco Products Company has a 12-month low of $39.27 and a 12-month high of $60.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.30 and a 200-day moving average of $52.40.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Sonoco Products had a positive return on equity of 16.40% and a negative net margin of 3.08%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sonoco Products Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Sonoco Products's dividend payout ratio is presently -93.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SON shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Sonoco Products from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Monday, October 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Sonoco Products from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Sonoco Products from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered Sonoco Products from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $57.38.

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.

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