Veritiv Co. (NYSE:VRTV) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its position in shares of Veritiv Co. (NYSE:VRTV – Get Rating) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 606 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Veritiv were worth $1,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 3.3% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Veritiv by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 7,411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Veritiv by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 23,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,872,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Towle & Co lifted its position in shares of Veritiv by 3.4% in the third quarter. Towle & Co now owns 5,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Veritiv by 9.4% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 97.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRTV. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Veritiv from $150.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Veritiv in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Salvatore A. Abbate sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.71, for a total value of $608,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,134 shares in the company, valued at $16,568,869.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Veritiv Price Performance

VRTV opened at $112.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.84, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 2.16. Veritiv Co. has a 1 year low of $94.50 and a 1 year high of $161.84. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $119.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.48.

Veritiv (NYSE:VRTV – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $5.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.44 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter. Veritiv had a net margin of 4.83% and a return on equity of 42.60%. Analysts forecast that Veritiv Co. will post 20.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Veritiv’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.87%.

About Veritiv

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Veritiv Corp. operates as a business-to-business distributor of print, publishing, packaging, facility solutions, print and publishing products and services. The firm provides logistics and supply chain management solutions to its customers. It operates through the following segments: Print, Publishing, Packaging and Facility Solutions.