Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.52 Per Share

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of 0.52 per share by the industrial products company on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51.

Sonoco Products has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.5% annually over the last three years.

Sonoco Products Price Performance

Shares of Sonoco Products stock opened at $56.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Sonoco Products has a 1-year low of $49.98 and a 1-year high of $63.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.68.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.02). Sonoco Products had a return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 7.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. Sonoco Products’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on SON. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $66.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Sonoco Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sonoco Products

In other news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $30,630.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $30,630.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey S. Tomaszewski sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $604,065.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $774,123.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,076 shares of company stock valued at $749,002 in the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sonoco Products

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 13,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,977 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 40,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 22,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,265,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Sonoco Products by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,607,000 after acquiring an additional 46,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.69% of the company’s stock.

About Sonoco Products

Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging segments. The Consumer Packaging segment offers round and shaped rigid paper, steel, and plastic containers; metal and peelable membrane ends, closures, and components; thermoformed plastic trays and enclosures; and high-barrier flexible packaging products.