Empowered Funds LLC Makes New $1.50 Million Investment in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 41,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,497,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Sealed Air by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 156,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,828,000 after purchasing an additional 15,174 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Sealed Air by 90.5% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 48,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,804,000 after acquiring an additional 23,029 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its position in shares of Sealed Air by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,856,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,571,000 after purchasing an additional 24,940 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in Sealed Air during the second quarter valued at about $2,098,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in Sealed Air during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,054,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SEE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Sealed Air from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $47.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Raymond James raised Sealed Air from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

Sealed Air stock opened at $35.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.86. Sealed Air Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.87 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.12. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Sealed Air’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is presently 29.41%.

Sealed Air 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.