Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,070,000 shares, a growth of 16.1% from the July 15th total of 18,150,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 9,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMCR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Amcor in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $10.80 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.10 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Amcor from $9.80 to $10.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. 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, Amcor currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.68.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in Amcor by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 54,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance grew its position in Amcor by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 55,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Amcor by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 254,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in Amcor by 51.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Amcor by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 25,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Amcor Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of AMCR stock traded down $0.40 on Friday, reaching $10.45. 25,043,974 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,357,111. The company has a market capitalization of $15.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $10.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Amcor has a twelve month low of $8.45 and a twelve month high of $10.91.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Amcor had a return on equity of 24.66% and a net margin of 4.75%. The business had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amcor will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 111.11%.

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.