Easterly Investment Partners LLC Sells 86,196 Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 141,627 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 86,196 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Sealed Air were worth $5,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 181,455 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,710 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Sealed Air during the first quarter worth approximately $582,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in Sealed Air by 10.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 156,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,828,000 after buying an additional 15,174 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Sealed Air by 90.5% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 48,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after buying an additional 23,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sealed Air by 1.4% in the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,856,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,571,000 after buying an additional 24,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Sealed Air from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $35.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Sealed Air Price Performance

NYSE SEE traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.79. The company had a trading volume of 341,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,510,109. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.34. Sealed Air Co. has a twelve month low of $30.87 and a twelve month high of $41.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.65.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Sealed Air had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 85.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is 32.26%.

Sealed Air 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.