Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $35.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $47.00.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SEE. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. They set a buy rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Sealed Air from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Mizuho upgraded Sealed Air from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sealed Air has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $42.60.

Sealed Air Price Performance

SEE stock opened at $32.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.49, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.70. The firm has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.35. Sealed Air has a 1 year low of $28.50 and a 1 year high of $41.14.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The industrial products company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.19. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 94.93% and a net margin of 6.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sealed Air will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.13%.

Institutional Trading of Sealed Air

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Sealed Air during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the first quarter worth approximately $52,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Sealed Air by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Sealed Air by 651.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,615 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sealed Air Company Profile

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.