Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) Stock Has Average Price Target of $57.38

Shares of Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.38.

Several brokerages recently commented on SON. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Bank of America cut Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Sonoco Products in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday.

Sonoco Products Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of SON opened at $50.04 on Friday. Sonoco Products has a 1-year low of $38.76 and a 1-year high of $60.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.39. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sonoco Products will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sonoco Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -93.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sonoco Products

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SON. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Sonoco Products by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 38,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,903,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 63.3% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,778 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,792 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sonoco Products in the third quarter worth $226,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 15,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 6.0% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 495,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,207,000 after purchasing an additional 28,281 shares in the last quarter. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.