Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Shares Sold by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Sonoco Products were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Sonoco Products by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,645,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,192,000 after acquiring an additional 64,915 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,631,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,465,000 after buying an additional 261,062 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,195,155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,338,000 after buying an additional 50,577 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 13,464.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,980,297 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,441,000 after buying an additional 1,965,698 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,490,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,602,000 after buying an additional 126,643 shares during the period. 77.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on SON shares. Raymond James started coverage on Sonoco Products in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut Sonoco Products from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Sonoco Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Sonoco Products Stock Performance

Sonoco Products stock opened at $53.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.68. Sonoco Products has a fifty-two week low of $48.22 and a fifty-two week high of $61.73.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.28 earnings per share 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 was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Sonoco Products will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.53%.

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.