Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Amcor Call Options (NYSE:AMCR)

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 8,483 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 842% compared to the average volume of 901 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.10 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.94.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amcor by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,749,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,686,000 after buying an additional 1,170,986 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in Amcor during the first quarter worth approximately $923,000. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in Amcor in the first quarter valued at approximately $114,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amcor in the first quarter valued at approximately $747,000. Finally, Rodgers Brothers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amcor by 321.5% during the 1st quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 315,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,997,000 after buying an additional 240,392 shares during the period. 45.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amcor Price Performance

Amcor stock opened at $10.34 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.50. Amcor has a 1 year low of $8.78 and a 1 year high of $11.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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

Amcor Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.1275 dividend. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.34%.

About Amcor

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.