Hancock Whitney Corp Makes New $960,000 Investment in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN)

Hancock Whitney Corp acquired a new stake in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $960,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Silgan by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,046,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $366,765,000 after purchasing an additional 767,944 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Silgan in the fourth quarter worth about $38,680,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Silgan by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,795,781 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $301,670,000 after buying an additional 656,923 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Silgan by 87.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,253,727 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $65,257,000 after acquiring an additional 584,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Silgan by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,931,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $464,886,000 after acquiring an additional 455,381 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Silgan Price Performance

SLGN stock opened at $51.48 on Friday. Silgan Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.14 and a 1 year high of $58.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.42.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. Silgan had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 4.72%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Silgan Holdings Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from Silgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Silgan’s dividend payout ratio is 31.01%.

Insider Transactions at Silgan

In other news, EVP Robert B. Lewis sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total value of $1,064,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 152,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,096,518.26. The trade was a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam J. Greenlee sold 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total transaction of $6,841,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,441,880.36. The trade was a 35.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Silgan from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Silgan from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Silgan from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Silgan from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Silgan from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.78.

Silgan Profile

Silgan Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells rigid packaging solutions for consumer goods products in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Dispensing and Specialty Closures, Metal Containers, and Custom Containers. The Dispensing and Specialty Closures segment offers a range of metal and plastic closures, and dispensing systems for food, beverage, health care, garden, home, personal care, beauty products, and hard surface cleaning products, as well as capping/sealing equipment and detection systems.