Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 22.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Sonoco Products Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE SON opened at $56.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.68. Sonoco Products has a fifty-two week low of $49.98 and a fifty-two week high of $63.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Sonoco Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is an increase from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is 42.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sonoco Products news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $30,630.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 28,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total transaction of $30,630.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Russell K. Grissett sold 2,039 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.06, for a total value of $114,306.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,047.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,076 shares of company stock worth $749,002 in the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SON has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

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.