Ieq Capital LLC Sells 29,327 Shares of Sonoco Products Company $SON

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Sonoco Products Company by 74.1%, indicating a shift in institutional investment strategies.
• Sonoco Products reported earnings of $1.37 EPS, missing analysts' estimates, despite year-over-year revenue growth of 17.7%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.53, representing an annual yield of 4.7%, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Ieq Capital LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON - Free Report) by 74.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,249 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 29,327 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Sonoco Products were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SON. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 859,810 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,002,000 after purchasing an additional 166,552 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 42,858 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 2,186 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 9,419 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 190.2% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 36,652 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,790,000 after purchasing an additional 24,022 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Sonoco Products by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 26,377 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,289,000 after buying an additional 4,426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SON. UBS Group lifted their target price on Sonoco Products from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Sonoco Products from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Sonoco Products from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Sonoco Products from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.63.

Sonoco Products Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:SON traded up $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.03. 896,190 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 859,207. The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.70. Sonoco Products Company has a fifty-two week low of $39.46 and a fifty-two week high of $56.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Sonoco Products had a return on equity of 20.46% and a net margin of 8.35%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Sonoco Products has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.000-6.2 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sonoco Products Company will post 6.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Sonoco Products's payout ratio is 37.99%.

About Sonoco Products

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.