Brandes Investment Partners LP Raises Holdings in Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON)

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Sonoco Products were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SON. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 501.1% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 53,710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,005,000 after buying an additional 44,774 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 154.6% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 44,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Sonoco Products by 12,183.3% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the period. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on SON shares. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Sonoco Products in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sonoco Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Sonoco Products from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $64.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.00.

Sonoco Products Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SON opened at $54.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.68. Sonoco Products has a twelve month low of $48.22 and a twelve month high of $61.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.02 and a 200 day moving average of $55.20.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Sonoco Products had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 5.57%. Sonoco Products’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Sonoco Products’s payout ratio is 52.53%.

Sonoco Products 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.