Sonoco Products Company $SON Stock: VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Increases Holdings

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems increased its Sonoco stake by 76.3% in the third quarter, adding 21,200 shares to bring its holdings to 49,000 shares, worth about $2.39 million.
• Sonoco missed quarterly earnings and revenue estimates: EPS was $1.67 versus a $1.74 consensus, while revenue of $2.04 billion was down 4.2% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share, equivalent to a 4.4% yield. Analysts’ consensus rating was “Hold,” with an average price target of $57.38.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON - Free Report) by 76.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 21,200 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al's holdings in Sonoco Products were worth $2,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Sonoco Products in the second quarter valued at $657,016,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter valued at $204,968,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Sonoco Products during the 2nd quarter worth $8,329,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Sonoco Products during the 2nd quarter worth $6,004,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 141.5% during the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 48,315 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 28,307 shares during the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sonoco Products Trading Down 2.8%

SON opened at $48.79 on Wednesday. Sonoco Products Company has a 52 week low of $39.27 and a 52 week high of $60.67. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.37.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.07). Sonoco Products had a negative net margin of 3.08% and a positive return on equity of 16.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.92 EPS. Sonoco Products's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Sonoco Products Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SON. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Sonoco Products in a report on Monday, October 26th. 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 research note on Friday, October 23rd. Bank of America cut shares of Sonoco Products from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. 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 shares of Sonoco Products from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $57.38.

Sonoco Products Profile

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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