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

Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.25.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SEE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on Sealed Air from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sealed Air news, Director Henry R. Keizer acquired 1,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.00 per share, with a total value of $33,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000. This trade represents a 3.31 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sealed Air

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Sealed Air by 168.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 466,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,791,000 after acquiring an additional 292,826 shares during the last quarter. QSM Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the fourth quarter valued at $5,565,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Sealed Air in the 4th quarter valued at $231,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sealed Air in the 4th quarter worth about $372,000. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Sealed Air during the 4th quarter worth about $301,000. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

SEE stock opened at $29.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.40. Sealed Air has a 12-month low of $28.67 and a 12-month high of $41.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.08. 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sealed Air will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is currently 44.20%.

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.