Sonoco Products Company $SON Stake Lowered by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA cut its holdings in Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON) by 36.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 465,560 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 264,096 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.47% of Sonoco Products worth $22,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SON. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Sonoco Products during the 2nd quarter worth about $657,016,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 0.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 32,810 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $204,968,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in 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 valued at $80,979,000 after acquiring an additional 66,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,793,000. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SON has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Sonoco Products in a report on Monday, October 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America lowered Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Sonoco Products from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.38.

Sonoco Products Stock Performance

Sonoco Products stock opened at $49.57 on Thursday. 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 Company has a 1 year low of $39.27 and a 1 year high of $60.67. The company has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of -21.55, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.46.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. Sonoco Products had a negative net margin of 3.08% and a positive return on equity of 16.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.92 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Sonoco Products Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonoco Products Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid 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 yield of 4.4%. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -93.91%.

Sonoco Products Profile

Sonoco Products Company is a global packaging manufacturer founded in 1899 and headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. It develops packaging and related services for customers in industries including food, consumer goods, health care and manufacturing. Its products include metal and paper containers, flexible packaging, industrial paper-based packaging and protective packaging. Sonoco also provides packaging-related services, such as supply-chain and graphics management. The company serves customers worldwide through operations in multiple regions, including North America, Europe and Asia.