Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 190,265 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,652 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Amcor were worth $1,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amcor by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,544,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,664 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Amcor by 39.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 719,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,162,000 after purchasing an additional 203,166 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amcor by 24.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 634,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,190,000 after purchasing an additional 124,945 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amcor by 78.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 217,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,464,000 after purchasing an additional 95,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Amcor during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,919,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMCR shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial raised shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amcor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.46.

Amcor Price Performance

Shares of Amcor stock opened at $9.79 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.35. Amcor plc has a 12-month low of $8.80 and a 12-month high of $11.48. The firm has a market cap of $14.14 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Amcor had a return on equity of 26.14% and a net margin of 5.89%. Amcor’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amcor plc will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Amcor Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.73%.

Insider Activity at Amcor

In related news, Director Achal Agarwal acquired 10,000 shares of Amcor stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.10 per share, with a total value of $101,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 88,967 shares in the company, valued at $898,566.70. This trade represents a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amcor Company Profile

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.