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

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.52 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

Sonoco Products has decreased its dividend by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years. Sonoco Products has a payout ratio of 35.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sonoco Products to earn $5.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.5%.

Sonoco Products Trading Down 1.2 %

SON traded down $0.65 on Wednesday, reaching $54.24. 499,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 609,381. The company has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Sonoco Products has a one year low of $48.22 and a one year high of $61.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.95.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. Sonoco Products had a net margin of 5.57% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on SON. Raymond James started coverage on Sonoco Products in a report on Friday, July 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Sonoco Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Sonoco Products from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $54.00 to $52.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sonoco Products presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

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.