AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 56,297 Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

AQR Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 333,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 56,297 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sealed Air were worth $11,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Sealed Air by 148.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. A&I Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Sealed Air during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Kwmg LLC boosted its stake in Sealed Air by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Kwmg LLC now owns 136,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 6,527 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Sealed Air by 131.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 76,479 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 43,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Sealed Air by 90.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,510,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 715,668 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Henry R. Keizer purchased 1,120 shares of Sealed Air stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.00 per share, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,050,000. This trade represents a 3.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sealed Air Price Performance

NYSE:SEE opened at $27.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.72. Sealed Air Co. has a 1-year low of $22.78 and a 1-year high of $41.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08 and a beta of 1.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.08. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sealed Air’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is presently 44.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SEE. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised Sealed Air from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sealed Air currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.00.

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.