Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Up 6.3% in November

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,210,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the October 31st total of 20,900,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 9,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMCR. Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.10 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.94.

Amcor Stock Performance

AMCR remained flat at $10.57 on Tuesday. The company had a trading volume of 3,642,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,441,902. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Amcor has a 1 year low of $8.78 and a 1 year high of $11.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.82.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. Amcor had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 25.60%. Amcor’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Amcor will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This is an increase from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.23%.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Amcor by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 719,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,162,000 after purchasing an additional 203,166 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Amcor by 292.5% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 81,439 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 60,691 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Amcor by 7.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 53,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 3,559 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amcor during the 3rd quarter worth about $372,000. Finally, TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amcor during the 3rd quarter worth $224,000. Institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

About Amcor

Amcor plc develops, produces, and sells packaging products in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. The company operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The Flexibles segment provides flexible and film packaging products in the food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical, fresh produce, snack food, personal care, and other industries.