Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Up 102.3% in November

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 44,920,000 shares, an increase of 102.3% from the November 15th total of 22,210,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 10,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMCR. Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Bank of America upgraded Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amcor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.20.

Amcor Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AMCR traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $9.90. The stock had a trading volume of 10,312,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,630,000. Amcor has a one year low of $8.78 and a one year high of $11.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Amcor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.1275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.23%.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amcor by 3.9% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 414,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,054,000 after buying an additional 15,416 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Amcor during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amcor by 15.8% in the second quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 14,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,963 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Amcor by 2.1% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after buying an additional 2,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Amcor by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 641,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,275,000 after buying an additional 18,433 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

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.