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

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) saw a significant 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. Based on an average daily volume of 19,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days. Approximately 9.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amcor

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amcor by 3,410.3% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Amcor by 247.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,660 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in Amcor by 2,064.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3,551 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position 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 period. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Amcor by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. 45.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amcor Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Amcor stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $9.85. The company had a trading volume of 16,960,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,752,048. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.34. The company has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.16. Amcor had a net margin of 5.89% and a return on equity of 26.14%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. Amcor’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Amcor will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMCR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup raised shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a 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 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial raised shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.46.

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.