Amcor Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AMCR)

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 13,512 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 449% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,461 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMCR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amcor news, Director Achal Agarwal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.10 per share, with a total value of $101,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 88,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $898,566.70. This trade represents a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Amcor by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,986,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $555,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249,868 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amcor by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,052,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,862,471 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amcor by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 36,856,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $345,952,000 after purchasing an additional 539,756 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Amcor by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,425,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,199,209 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Amcor by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,971,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,614,233 shares during the period. 45.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amcor Stock Performance

Shares of Amcor stock opened at $9.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.30. Amcor has a 52 week low of $8.80 and a 52 week high of $11.48.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Amcor had a return on equity of 26.14% and a net margin of 5.89%. Amcor’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Amcor will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Amcor’s payout ratio is 92.73%.

About Amcor

Amcor plc develops, produces, and sells packaging products in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. The company operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The Flexibles segment provides flexible and film packaging products in the food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical, fresh produce, snack food, personal care, and other industries.