Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 94,713 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,567 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Sonoco Products worth $5,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sonoco Products in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sonoco Products during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sonoco Products in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 12,183.3% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Sonoco Products by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SON shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Sonoco Products from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Sonoco Products from $66.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sonoco Products currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.33.

Sonoco Products Stock Down 1.5 %

SON traded down $0.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.60. The stock had a trading volume of 6,007,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 468,011. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $58.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.38. Sonoco Products has a one year low of $49.98 and a one year high of $61.73. The company has a market capitalization of $5.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.72.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.07. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 20.79%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Sonoco Products Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. This is a positive change from Sonoco Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Sonoco Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.53%.

Sonoco Products 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.