Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) by 1.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,464,540 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42,887 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Amcor were worth $39,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMCR. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Amcor by 7.5% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 59,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 4,126 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in Amcor by 1.4% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,606,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,278,000 after buying an additional 22,154 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Amcor in the first quarter valued at $16,598,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Amcor by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,749,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,986 shares during the period. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Amcor in the first quarter valued at $923,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AMCR. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.10 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amcor has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.94.

Amcor Price Performance

AMCR stock opened at $10.22 on Friday. Amcor plc has a 12-month low of $8.78 and a 12-month high of $11.48. The company has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.48.

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

Amcor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.99%. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Amcor’s payout ratio is presently 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.