Norges Bank Takes $50.56 Million Position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,494,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,562,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sealed Air by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,330,381 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $620,117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,754,395 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Sealed Air by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,325,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $78,678,000 after purchasing an additional 846,882 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sealed Air by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,300,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,542,000 after purchasing an additional 12,559 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Sealed Air by 84.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,015,442 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,182,000 after buying an additional 920,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Sealed Air by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,646,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,716,000 after buying an additional 32,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Sealed Air Trading Down 10.0 %

SEE opened at $24.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.17. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 1.32. Sealed Air Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.35 and a fifty-two week high of $41.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.20%.

Insider Activity at Sealed Air

In other news, Director Henry R. Keizer bought 1,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.00 per share, with a total value of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000. This trade represents a 3.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Sealed Air from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sealed Air has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.25.

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.