Brandes Investment Partners LP Increases Position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its stake in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 28.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 552,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 120,994 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Sealed Air were worth $18,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 148.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. A&I Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Sealed Air during the fourth quarter valued at about $527,000. Kwmg LLC raised its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 136,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 6,527 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Sealed Air during the third quarter valued at about $1,497,000. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 56.6% during the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,517,493 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,085,000 after acquiring an additional 548,493 shares during the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Henry R. Keizer purchased 1,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.00 per share, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,050,000. This represents a 3.31 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Sealed Air Price Performance

Shares of SEE opened at $29.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.70. Sealed Air Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.33 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.32.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.08. Sealed Air had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 74.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is 44.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.25.

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.