Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Update

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 44,920,000 shares, a growth of 102.3% from the November 15th total of 22,210,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amcor

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMCR. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Amcor by 275.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,613,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,931,000 after purchasing an additional 4,851,222 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Amcor by 39,411.0% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,811,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,855,000 after acquiring an additional 2,804,484 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC boosted its position in shares of Amcor by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 49,940,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $549,342,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775,794 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amcor by 356.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,930,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,659,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amcor by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,190,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,960,308 shares in the last quarter. 45.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMCR shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America raised Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amcor presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.20.

Amcor Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AMCR traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $9.98. The company had a trading volume of 15,017,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,627,153. Amcor has a 12-month low of $8.78 and a 12-month high of $11.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.82. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.52.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted its quarterly 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. Amcor had a return on equity of 25.60% and a net margin of 5.68%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. Amcor’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amcor will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Amcor’s payout ratio is 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.