Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.25.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Sonoco Products in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sonoco Products in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Sonoco Products Price Performance

SON opened at $44.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.98, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.91 and a 200 day moving average of $46.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 0.79. Sonoco Products has a fifty-two week low of $39.46 and a fifty-two week high of $57.81.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 2.60% and a return on equity of 20.81%. Sonoco Products’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 6.1 EPS for the current year.

Sonoco Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.76%. Sonoco Products’s payout ratio is presently 137.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sonoco Products

In related news, Director John R. Haley bought 2,246 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $44.57 per share, for a total transaction of $100,104.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,804 shares in the company, valued at $927,234.28. This trade represents a 12.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert R. Hill, Jr. purchased 5,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $40.34 per share, for a total transaction of $220,861.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 29,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,643.60. This represents a 22.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 27,721 shares of company stock worth $1,144,366 over the last three months. 0.74% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SON. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 1.1% in the fourth 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 grew its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 14.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,591,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $169,646,000 after purchasing an additional 450,792 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 2.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,655,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,439,000 after purchasing an additional 60,746 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sonoco Products by 9.8% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,308,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,074,000 after acquiring an additional 206,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC bought a new stake in Sonoco Products in the fourth quarter valued at $78,203,000. 77.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.