Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) Short Interest Up 20.8% in December

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in 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 trading volume, of 12,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Amcor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMCR traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,007,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,705,694. 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 has a 52 week low of $8.78 and a 52 week high of $11.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.84.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.35 billion during 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amcor will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amcor Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. This is a boost from Amcor’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Amcor’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.23%.

Institutional Trading of Amcor

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMCR. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Amcor by 9.6% during the third 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 lifted its position in Amcor by 7.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amcor by 6.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amcor by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 32,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AMCR shares. Bank of America upgraded Amcor from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.50 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup raised shares of Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Macquarie upgraded Amcor from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Amcor from $10.50 to $10.80 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.