Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,060,000 shares, an increase of 36.0% from the December 15th total of 2,250,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Silgan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Silgan by 220.4% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Silgan by 51.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,777 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Silgan by 27.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Silgan during the 3rd quarter worth about $154,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Silgan by 13,482.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,124 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101 shares during the period. 70.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Silgan Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of SLGN stock traded down $0.20 on Friday, hitting $52.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 457,182 shares, compared to its average volume of 458,798. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.71. Silgan has a fifty-two week low of $41.14 and a fifty-two week high of $58.14. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $53.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Silgan had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 5.11%. Silgan's quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Silgan will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Silgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Silgan's dividend payout ratio is 27.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on SLGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Silgan from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Silgan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Silgan from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Silgan from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Silgan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.75.

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.