WestRock (NYSE:WRK) Announces Earnings Results

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.14, Briefing.com reports. WestRock had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 5.85%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis.

WestRock Stock Up 0.1 %

WRK opened at $51.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.99, a PEG ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $47.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.73. WestRock has a twelve month low of $26.85 and a twelve month high of $51.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. WestRock’s payout ratio is presently 101.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WRK shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of WestRock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WestRock from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of WestRock in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WestRock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WestRock news, insider Vicki L. Lostetter sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.77, for a total transaction of $149,695.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,939,844.09. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WestRock Company Profile

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.