Comerica Bank Purchases 3,253 Shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Comerica Bank increased its position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Rating) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,253 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in WestRock were worth $1,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in WestRock by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,619,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,440,053,000 after buying an additional 252,490 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its position in WestRock by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 9,946,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $307,251,000 after buying an additional 1,117,520 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA raised its position in WestRock by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 7,511,127 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $299,243,000 after buying an additional 153,752 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in WestRock by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,303,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $211,296,000 after buying an additional 285,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in WestRock by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,044,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,131,000 after buying an additional 1,342,765 shares during the last quarter. 84.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WestRock news, Director Currey M. Russell sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.51, for a total value of $2,008,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 245,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,954,844.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WestRock Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of WRK opened at $37.14 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.38 and a 200 day moving average of $37.10. WestRock has a fifty-two week low of $30.08 and a fifty-two week high of $54.78. The firm has a market cap of $9.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.53.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 10th. The basic materials company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.03. WestRock had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 4.44%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that WestRock will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

WestRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 10th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 9th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. This is an increase from WestRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on WRK. Bank of America lowered their price target on WestRock from $57.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on WestRock from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on WestRock from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 11th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on WestRock from $36.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on WestRock from $39.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.71.

WestRock Profile

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WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates in four segments, Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.