Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 10.2% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 56,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 5,231 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. bought a new position in Sealed Air during the third quarter worth about $212,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Sealed Air by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 55,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,017,000 after buying an additional 961 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 138,186 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,019,000 after acquiring an additional 77,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Sealed Air by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atlas Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 7,527 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SEE opened at $36.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 1.34. Sealed Air has a 12 month low of $30.87 and a 12 month high of $41.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 85.65% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Sealed Air will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.26%.

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.