Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Update

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the target of a large growth in short interest in 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 volume of 10,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Amcor by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,210 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 946 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amcor by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of Amcor by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 14,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amcor by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Amcor by 5.3% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 25,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. 45.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMCR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Macquarie upgraded shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Amcor from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amcor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.20.

Amcor Price Performance

AMCR traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.90. 10,312,756 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,630,000. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.82. Amcor has a one year low of $8.78 and a one year high of $11.48.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Amcor had a net margin of 5.68% and a return on equity of 25.60%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Amcor will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.1275 dividend. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Amcor’s payout ratio is 96.23%.

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.