Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Citigroup

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $63.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Sonoco Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lowered Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sonoco Products presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Sonoco Products Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE SON opened at $50.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.36 and its 200 day moving average is $52.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. Sonoco Products has a 12 month low of $38.65 and a 12 month high of $60.67. The stock has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of -21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.35.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.07). Sonoco Products had a positive return on equity of 16.40% and a negative net margin of 3.08%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Sonoco Products will post 5.40 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is -93.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SON. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Sonoco Products during the second quarter valued at $657,016,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,931,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $212,632,000 after buying an additional 32,810 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter worth $204,968,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,497,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,979,000 after buying an additional 66,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,116,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,414,000 after buying an additional 12,185 shares during the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sonoco Products

Sonoco Products Company is a global packaging company headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. Founded in 1899 as the Southern Novelty Company, it has developed from a producer of paper cones for the textile industry into a diversified provider of packaging solutions serving consumer, industrial and commercial customers.

The company manufactures a broad range of products, including composite cans and tubes, paperboard packaging, flexible packaging, thermoformed packaging, rigid plastic containers, protective packaging and packaging components.