Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,884 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Silgan worth $9,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Silgan by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Silgan by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,430 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Silgan by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,405 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Silgan by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Silgan by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. 70.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Silgan

In other news, EVP Robert B. Lewis sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $1,064,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 152,133 shares in the company, valued at $8,096,518.26. This trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Adam J. Greenlee sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total value of $6,841,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 227,332 shares in the company, valued at $12,441,880.36. This trade represents a 35.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Silgan Stock Performance

NYSE SLGN opened at $54.28 on Friday. Silgan Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.14 and a 1-year high of $58.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. Silgan had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 4.72%. Sell-side analysts expect that Silgan Holdings Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Silgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Silgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Silgan’s dividend payout ratio is 29.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SLGN. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Silgan from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Silgan from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Silgan from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Silgan from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of Silgan in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Silgan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.22.

About Silgan

Silgan Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells rigid packaging solutions for consumer goods products in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Dispensing and Specialty Closures, Metal Containers, and Custom Containers. The Dispensing and Specialty Closures segment offers a range of metal and plastic closures, and dispensing systems for food, beverage, health care, garden, home, personal care, beauty products, and hard surface cleaning products, as well as capping/sealing equipment and detection systems.