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

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 20.95%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. Sonoco Products’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Sonoco Products Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE SON opened at $56.71 on Thursday. 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 has a 52 week low of $49.98 and a 52 week high of $63.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.00.

Sonoco Products Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. This is a boost from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Sonoco Products’s payout ratio is 51.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Adam Wood sold 537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 28,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,691.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $30,630.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 28,273 shares in the company, 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 Russell K. Grissett sold 2,039 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.06, for a total transaction of $114,306.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $672,047.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,076 shares of company stock worth $749,002 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $66.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sonoco Products has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

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.