Short Interest in Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) Increases By 16.0%

Silgan Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SLGN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,390,000 shares, a growth of 16.0% from the November 15th total of 2,060,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 540,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Silgan Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of SLGN traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.63. 71,588 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,053. Silgan has a 12-month low of $41.14 and a 12-month high of $58.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $5.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.69.

Silgan (NYSE:SLGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Silgan had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Silgan will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Silgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Silgan’s payout ratio is presently 27.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Silgan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Silgan from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.43.

Institutional Trading of Silgan

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Silgan by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 592 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Silgan in the 2nd quarter valued at $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Silgan by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Silgan by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.25% of the company’s stock.

Silgan Company Profile

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.