Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $23.81 Million in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,530,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,810,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Amcor by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 1,119,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,177,000 after acquiring an additional 44,900 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amcor by 108.5% during the 4th quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 18,520 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Amcor by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 466,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,386,000 after buying an additional 251,235 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Amcor by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 30,425,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,300,000 after acquiring an additional 4,199,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Amcor during the fourth quarter valued at $140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Amcor Stock Performance

NYSE:AMCR opened at $9.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.72 and its 200 day moving average is $10.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.78. Amcor plc has a fifty-two week low of $8.37 and a fifty-two week high of $11.48.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. Amcor had a net margin of 5.89% and a return on equity of 26.14%. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amcor plc will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Amcor Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.1275 per share. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Amcor’s payout ratio is currently 92.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMCR. Truist Financial upgraded Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Amcor from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amcor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amcor

In related news, Director Achal Agarwal bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.10 per share, for a total transaction of $101,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 88,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $898,566.70. The trade was a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.