JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 662,606 Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 501.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 794,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 662,606 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Sealed Air were worth $28,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the second quarter worth $34,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Sealed Air by 523.6% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 2,445 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Sealed Air by 230.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 20.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,595 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SEE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of 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, October 17th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.17.

Sealed Air Price Performance

Shares of Sealed Air stock opened at $34.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 1.34. Sealed Air Co. has a one year low of $30.87 and a one year high of $41.14. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.24.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Sealed Air had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 74.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.41%.

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.