Principal Securities Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,660 Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SEE. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the 3rd quarter valued at $895,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the 4th quarter valued at $2,965,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 250,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,218,000 after buying an additional 99,700 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 527,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,348,000 after buying an additional 165,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,853,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $553,809,000 after buying an additional 92,114 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on SEE shares. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $39.00 to $44.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.50.

Sealed Air Price Performance

SEE opened at $37.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.49, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.07. Sealed Air Co. has a 52-week low of $28.50 and a 52-week high of $47.12.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.25. Sealed Air had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 94.93%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Sealed Air Co. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is currently 32.13%.

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.