Easterly Investment Partners LLC Takes Position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 227,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,926,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.16% of Sealed Air at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Sealed Air during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 18,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Sealed Air by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 73,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,550,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Sealed Air in the 2nd quarter valued at about $803,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Sealed Air by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 16,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 2,668 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SEE. Mizuho raised shares of Sealed Air from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Sealed Air from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sealed Air presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.10.

Sealed Air Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Sealed Air stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,018,017 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,550,292. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.58. The company has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 8.43 and a beta of 1.35. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $41.14.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Sealed Air had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 85.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Sealed Air Co. will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.13%.

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.