Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $35.30, but opened at $36.73. Sealed Air shares last traded at $36.23, with a volume of 68,880 shares.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is presently 32.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sealed Air from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Sealed Air from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Sealed Air Trading Up 1.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.31.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.19. Sealed Air had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 85.65%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. Sealed Air’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Sealed Air Co. will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sealed Air

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sealed Air by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,703,769 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $621,380,000 after purchasing an additional 600,146 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 38.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,114,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,136,000 after buying an additional 1,136,985 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Sealed Air by 7.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,500,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,014,000 after acquiring an additional 170,846 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 33.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,910,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,475,000 after acquiring an additional 479,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in Sealed Air by 1.4% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,856,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,571,000 after acquiring an additional 24,940 shares during the period. 94.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.