Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 353,795 International Paper Company $IP

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 353,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,480,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in shares of International Paper in the second quarter valued at about $608,000. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV acquired a new stake in International Paper in the 2nd quarter worth about $371,000. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in International Paper in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,395,000. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan bought a new stake in International Paper in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,689,000. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. bought a new stake in International Paper in the 2nd quarter valued at about $270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on IP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of International Paper from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $61.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research upgraded International Paper from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised International Paper from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on International Paper from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (up from $46.00) on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, July 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Paper

In related news, VP William Thomas Hamic sold 24,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.20, for a total value of $1,009,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 106,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,422.40. This represents a 18.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Holly G. Goughnour sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.96, for a total value of $146,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 34,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,437,046.08. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

International Paper Price Performance

IP stock opened at $37.96 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.67. The firm has a market cap of $20.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.82 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. International Paper Company has a 12 month low of $29.26 and a 12 month high of $50.25.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.19 billion. International Paper had a negative net margin of 14.20% and a negative return on equity of 1.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that International Paper Company will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Paper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. International Paper’s dividend payout ratio is presently -28.37%.

International Paper Profile

International Paper is a global producer of renewable fiber-based products, focused primarily on pulp, paper, and packaging. The company manufactures containerboard and corrugated packaging used for shipping and retail display, as well as a range of specialty papers and pulp products that serve industrial, consumer goods, and e-commerce customers. Its product portfolio is oriented toward large-scale packaging solutions, tissue and paper grades, and raw pulp for a variety of manufacturing uses.

Founded in 1898, International Paper is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, and is one of the largest and longest-established companies in the forest products sector.