Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires 464,534 Shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in WestRock (NYSE:WRK) by 296.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 621,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 464,534 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in WestRock were worth $30,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WestRock by 268.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A bought a new stake in shares of WestRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of WestRock by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of WestRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WestRock by 82.0% in the 1st quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WRK shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of WestRock from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of WestRock in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of WestRock from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of WestRock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WestRock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at WestRock

In other news, EVP Denise R. Singleton sold 9,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.46, for a total value of $499,162.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,856,721.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Denise R. Singleton sold 9,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.46, for a total value of $499,162.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,856,721.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John L. O’neal sold 6,965 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.47, for a total transaction of $358,488.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,491 shares in the company, valued at $3,113,471.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

WestRock Trading Up 3.5 %

WestRock stock traded up $1.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $51.51. 11,862,001 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,623,995. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.05. WestRock has a 52-week low of $27.86 and a 52-week high of $54.83.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.75 billion. WestRock had a net margin of 1.57% and a return on equity of 5.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that WestRock will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About WestRock

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.