Columbia Asset Management Trims Holdings in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Columbia Asset Management lowered its position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,607 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 15,849 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Sealed Air were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SEE. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 49.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 21,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 7,003 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sealed Air by 28.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 626,348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,736,000 after purchasing an additional 137,073 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of Sealed Air during the 3rd quarter valued at about $321,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 32,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after buying an additional 2,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 21.1% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 19,557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 3,411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.40% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sealed Air news, Director Henry R. Keizer bought 1,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.00 per share, with a total value of $33,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,050,000. This trade represents a 3.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $36.00 price target on Sealed Air in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.25.

Sealed Air Trading Up 0.4 %

SEE stock opened at $29.02 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.40 and its 200 day moving average is $34.33. Sealed Air Co. has a 12-month low of $28.37 and a 12-month high of $41.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.20%.

Sealed Air 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.