Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $47.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Sealed Air in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Raymond James upgraded Sealed Air from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

Shares of SEE opened at $37.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.88 and a 200-day moving average of $35.76. The company has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.34. Sealed Air has a one year low of $30.87 and a one year high of $41.14.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sealed Air will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sealed Air

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 38.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,114,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,985 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $139,800,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,300,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,542,000 after purchasing an additional 12,559 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,910,647 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,475,000 after purchasing an additional 479,675 shares during the period. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,856,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,571,000 after purchasing an additional 24,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

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.