Verition Fund Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR)

Verition Fund Management LLC cut its stake in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) by 72.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,338 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,242 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Amcor were worth $174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Amcor by 24.5% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 634,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,190,000 after buying an additional 124,945 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Amcor by 78.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 217,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,464,000 after acquiring an additional 95,805 shares during the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Amcor by 30.1% in the third quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 609,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,903,000 after acquiring an additional 140,850 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Amcor by 11.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,721,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Amcor by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,389,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,071,000 after purchasing an additional 126,844 shares during the period. 45.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Macquarie upgraded Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amcor currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.20.

Amcor Price Performance

NYSE:AMCR opened at $9.86 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.53. Amcor plc has a 52 week low of $8.78 and a 52 week high of $11.48. The stock has a market cap of $14.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.16 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Amcor plc 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 dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.23%.

Amcor 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.