Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $32.13, but opened at $35.14. Sealed Air shares last traded at $35.44, with a volume of 344,355 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. Sealed Air had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 74.21%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SEE has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Sealed Air from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sealed Air has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,330,381 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $620,117,000 after buying an additional 2,754,395 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Sealed Air by 9.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,081,848 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Sealed Air in the third quarter valued at about $139,800,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sealed Air by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,788,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549,184 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,325,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,678,000 after purchasing an additional 846,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Sealed Air Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The business’s fifty day moving average is $34.14 and its 200 day moving average is $34.90. The company has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50 and a beta of 1.34.

Sealed Air Company Profile

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.