O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Veritiv Co. (NYSE:VRTV)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veritiv Co. (NYSE:VRTV – Get Rating) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Veritiv worth $2,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 0.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,275,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $304,014,000 after purchasing an additional 13,680 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 939,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $125,572,000 after purchasing an additional 21,735 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 2.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 518,513 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,285,000 after purchasing an additional 14,021 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 50.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 222,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,772,000 after purchasing an additional 74,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Veritiv by 1.9% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 147,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,012,000 after purchasing an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.74% of the company’s stock.

Veritiv Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of VRTV opened at $107.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 2.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.37. Veritiv Co. has a twelve month low of $94.50 and a twelve month high of $161.84.

Veritiv (NYSE:VRTV – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $5.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.44 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter. Veritiv had a return on equity of 42.60% and a net margin of 4.83%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veritiv Co. will post 20.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 17th. Veritiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritiv

In other Veritiv news, CEO Salvatore A. Abbate sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.71, for a total value of $608,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,568,869.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTV has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on Veritiv in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on Veritiv from $150.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th.

Veritiv Company Profile

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Veritiv Corp. operates as a business-to-business distributor of print, publishing, packaging, facility solutions, print and publishing products and services. The firm provides logistics and supply chain management solutions to its customers. It operates through the following segments: Print, Publishing, Packaging and Facility Solutions.