Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.52

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. This is a positive change from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51.

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

Sonoco Products Price Performance

NYSE:SON traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.79. 394,039 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 432,883. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.80. Sonoco Products has a 1 year low of $49.98 and a 1 year high of $63.74. The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.68.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Sonoco Products’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.26 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SON shares. TheStreet downgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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, Citigroup lowered 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sonoco Products presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total transaction of $30,630.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total transaction of $30,630.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Russell K. Grissett sold 2,039 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.06, for a total transaction of $114,306.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $672,047.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,076 shares of company stock valued at $749,002. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sonoco Products

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products during the second quarter worth about $235,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Sonoco Products by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products during the first quarter worth about $221,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Sonoco Products during the fourth quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Sonoco Products in the 2nd quarter worth about $215,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.