KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases Shares of 28,000 Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 28,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,457,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Silgan by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,792 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Silgan by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,970 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in shares of Silgan by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 12,678 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $660,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Silgan by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,067 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Silgan by 5.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,405 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Silgan from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Silgan from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Silgan from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Silgan from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Silgan from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert B. Lewis sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.22, for a total transaction of $1,064,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 152,133 shares in the company, valued at $8,096,518.26. This trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Adam J. Greenlee sold 125,000 shares of Silgan stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,441,880.36. This represents a 35.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Silgan Price Performance

SLGN stock traded up $0.32 on Wednesday, reaching $51.62. The company had a trading volume of 468,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 638,862. The company's fifty day moving average is $52.57 and its 200 day moving average is $52.77. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.45. Silgan Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.14 and a 1 year high of $58.14.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.03. Silgan had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 4.72%. On average, research analysts forecast that Silgan Holdings Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Silgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from Silgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Silgan's dividend 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.