Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Up 26.0% in February

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 130,510,000 shares, a growth of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 103,550,000 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 19,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AMCR shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Macquarie upgraded shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.46.

Amcor Price Performance

AMCR stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.91. 25,436,538 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,872,133. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.33. The company has a market capitalization of $14.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.80. Amcor has a twelve month low of $8.80 and a twelve month high of $11.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.71.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Amcor had a net margin of 5.89% and a return on equity of 26.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amcor will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. Amcor’s payout ratio is 92.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amcor

In other Amcor news, Director Achal Agarwal acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.10 per share, with a total value of $101,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 88,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $898,566.70. This trade represents a 12.66 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amcor

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Amcor by 3,410.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Amcor by 247.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Amcor by 2,064.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,723 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in Amcor by 3,794.1% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 3,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in Amcor by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. 45.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amcor Company 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.