Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $32.10, but opened at $35.00. Sealed Air shares last traded at $34.41, with a volume of 685,556 shares traded.

The industrial products company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.25. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 94.93% and a net margin of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Sealed Air’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is 32.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Sealed Air from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho cut their price target on Sealed Air from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $39.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sealed Air currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.91.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sealed Air

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sealed Air by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,853,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $553,809,000 after buying an additional 92,114 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 2,549.6% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 5,340,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $195,720,000 after acquiring an additional 5,138,700 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sealed Air by 70.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,238,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $172,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,159,143 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Sealed Air in the 4th quarter worth about $86,410,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Sealed Air by 16.3% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,159,920 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $70,975,000 after purchasing an additional 302,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.49, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.34.

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.