Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Sealed Air from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America decreased their target price on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Sealed Air Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of SEE opened at $27.74 on Tuesday. Sealed Air has a 12-month low of $22.78 and a 12-month high of $41.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.08. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sealed Air will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is 44.20%.

Insider Activity at Sealed Air

In related news, Director Henry R. Keizer bought 1,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.00 per share, with a total value of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,050,000. This represents a 3.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sealed Air

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sealed Air by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,330,381 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $620,117,000 after buying an additional 2,754,395 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Sealed Air by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,788,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,176,000 after buying an additional 1,549,184 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the fourth quarter worth about $50,562,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sealed Air by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,316,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $416,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081,848 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sealed Air by 84.0% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,015,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,182,000 after purchasing an additional 920,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

About Sealed Air

Sealed Air Corporation provides packaging solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It operates through two segments, Food and Protective. The Food segment offers integrated packaging materials and automation equipment solutions to provide food safety, shelf life extension, reduce food waste, automate processes, and optimize total cost for food processors in the fresh red meat, smoked and processed meats, poultry, seafood, plant-based, fluids and liquids and cheese markets under the CRYOVAC, CRYOVAC Grip & Tear, CRYOVAC Darfresh, LIQUIBOX, Simple Steps, and Optidure brands.