Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 693,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 29,364 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Sealed Air worth $25,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sealed Air in the first quarter worth $52,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 651.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,615 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Sealed Air by 523.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,445 shares during the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

SEE opened at $35.60 on Wednesday. Sealed Air Co. has a 12-month low of $30.87 and a 12-month high of $41.14. The company has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.38 and its 200 day moving average is $35.79.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.12. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Sealed Air’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SEE. UBS Group dropped their price target on Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

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.