Short Interest in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Rises By 20.8%

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 81,170,000 shares, a growth of 20.8% from the December 15th total of 67,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 12,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days. Approximately 5.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMCR. Macquarie raised Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.46.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMCR. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Amcor by 8.4% in the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 12,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in Amcor by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in Amcor by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 14,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Amcor by 6.1% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amcor by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 32,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Amcor Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AMCR opened at $9.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.44. Amcor has a 1-year low of $8.78 and a 1-year high of $11.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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

Amcor Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.26%. Amcor’s dividend 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.