Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stock Holdings in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 405,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 18,676 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.28% of Sealed Air worth $13,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sealed Air by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Sealed Air by 218.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Sealed Air by 89.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,512 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sealed Air by 148.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SEE shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Sealed Air from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $36.00 price objective on Sealed Air in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.42.

Sealed Air Price Performance

NYSE:SEE traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,324,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,536,474. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $29.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.35. Sealed Air Co. has a 52-week low of $22.78 and a 52-week high of $41.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. Sealed Air's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Sealed Air Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Sealed Air's payout ratio is currently 44.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Henry R. Keizer acquired 1,120 shares of Sealed Air stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.00 per share, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,050,000. This represents a 3.31 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

About Sealed Air

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.