Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on SON. Citigroup lowered their price target on Sonoco Products from $63.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut Sonoco Products from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Sonoco Products from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Sonoco Products from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sonoco Products from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.50.

Sonoco Products Stock Performance

Sonoco Products stock opened at $50.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.36 and a 200-day moving average of $52.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.35. Sonoco Products has a 52 week low of $38.65 and a 52 week high of $60.67.

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Sonoco Products had a negative net margin of 3.08% and a positive return on equity of 16.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Sonoco Products will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sonoco Products

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sonoco Products by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its position in Sonoco Products by 93.1% in the 1st quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 612 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Sonoco Products by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 6,373 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sonoco Products by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Sonoco Products by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,062 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. 77.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sonoco Products

Sonoco Products Company is a global packaging company headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. Founded in 1899 as the Southern Novelty Company, it has developed from a producer of paper cones for the textile industry into a diversified provider of packaging solutions serving consumer, industrial and commercial customers.

The company manufactures a broad range of products, including composite cans and tubes, paperboard packaging, flexible packaging, thermoformed packaging, rigid plastic containers, protective packaging and packaging components.