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

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.73%. This is an increase 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 Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Sonoco Products stock opened at $55.79 on Thursday. 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 twelve month low of $49.98 and a twelve month high of $63.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.80.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.02). 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sonoco Products will post 5.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of Sonoco Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sonoco Products presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Insider Activity at Sonoco Products

In other Sonoco Products news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of Sonoco Products stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total transaction of $30,630.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,612,691.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Russell K. Grissett sold 2,039 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $672,047.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $30,630.48. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,612,691.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,076 shares of company stock valued at $749,002. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Sonoco Products by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,240,829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $515,546,000 after acquiring an additional 972,157 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sonoco Products in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,429,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Sonoco Products during the first quarter worth $51,618,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 3.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,991,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $687,633,000 after buying an additional 362,516 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sonoco Products by 29.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,228,838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,875,000 after buying an additional 277,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.69% of the company’s stock.

Sonoco Products Company Profile

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.