Traders Buy Large Volume of Sealed Air Call Options (NYSE:SEE)

Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE:SEE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 3,506 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 510% compared to the typical daily volume of 575 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sealed Air

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Sealed Air by 2.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 285,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,075,000 after buying an additional 6,400 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Sealed Air by 18.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 64,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,272,000 after buying an additional 10,058 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 11.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 543,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,197,000 after buying an additional 57,565 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 20.7% during the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 18,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Sealed Air by 48.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 399,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,110,000 after acquiring an additional 129,446 shares during the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Sealed Air from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sealed Air from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sealed Air from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.64.

Sealed Air Stock Performance

NYSE SEE traded up $6.68 during trading on Thursday, hitting $43.06. 5,215,713 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,592,688. Sealed Air has a 12-month low of $22.78 and a 12-month high of $44.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.18, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.58 and a 200-day moving average of $32.34.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.19. Sealed Air had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 60.61%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Sealed Air has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.250-3.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sealed Air will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

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.