Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stake in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN - Free Report) by 1,918.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,929 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 82,623 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.08% of Silgan worth $4,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Silgan in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,975,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Silgan in the fourth quarter worth $620,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Silgan by 11.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,495,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $78,509,000 after purchasing an additional 157,160 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Silgan during the 4th quarter worth about $1,142,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Silgan in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,563,000. Institutional investors own 70.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SLGN. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Silgan from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Silgan from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $69.00) on shares of Silgan in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Silgan from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Silgan from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Silgan currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Silgan news, EVP Robert B. Lewis sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $1,064,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 152,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,096,518.26. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam J. Greenlee sold 125,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total value of $6,841,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,332 shares in the company, valued at $12,441,880.36. The trade was a 35.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company's stock.

Silgan Stock Performance

Silgan stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.11. The stock had a trading volume of 41,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 647,223. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.81. Silgan Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.14 and a 12 month high of $58.14. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $51.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.49.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Silgan Holdings Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Silgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Silgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Silgan's payout ratio is presently 31.01%.

About Silgan

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.