Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) by 39.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 719,749 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 203,166 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Amcor were worth $8,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMCR. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Amcor by 292.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 81,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 60,691 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amcor by 7.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 53,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amcor in the third quarter valued at $372,000. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new position in Amcor in the third quarter valued at $224,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Amcor by 40.5% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 7,729 shares during the period. 45.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Amcor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMCR opened at $9.40 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Amcor plc has a 12-month low of $8.78 and a 12-month high of $11.48. The company has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.82.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. Amcor had a return on equity of 25.60% and a net margin of 5.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Amcor plc will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.1275 per share. 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 dividend yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Amcor’s payout ratio is presently 96.23%.

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.