Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Amcor (NYSE:AMCR)

Amcor plc (NYSE:AMCR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 13,512 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 449% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,461 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amcor news, Director Achal Agarwal acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $898,566.70. This represents a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amcor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMCR. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Amcor by 145.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,080,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,170,000 after buying an additional 640,375 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Amcor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $294,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Amcor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Amcor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $663,000. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Amcor by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 45,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Macquarie upgraded 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 increased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial raised shares of Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 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 report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Amcor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Three investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.46.

Amcor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMCR opened at $9.44 on Friday. Amcor has a 12-month low of $8.80 and a 12-month high of $11.48. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.29. The firm has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. Amcor had a return on equity of 26.14% and a net margin of 5.89%. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Amcor will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Amcor Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.1275 dividend. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. Amcor’s payout ratio is currently 92.73%.

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.