Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 24,250 Shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Verition Fund Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE - Free Report) by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,970 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 24,250 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in Sealed Air were worth $870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SEE. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,497,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in Sealed Air by 1.4% during the second quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,856,020 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $64,571,000 after purchasing an additional 24,940 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Sealed Air in the second quarter worth about $2,098,000. Commerce Bank raised its stake in shares of Sealed Air by 67.6% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 36,601 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,329,000 after buying an additional 14,766 shares during the period. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sealed Air during the 2nd quarter valued at about $514,000. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Sealed Air from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James raised Sealed Air from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Sealed Air from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Sealed Air Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE SEE traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $36.84. 1,236,787 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,503,759. Sealed Air Co. has a 52 week low of $30.87 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.72. The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.34.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 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 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. Analysts forecast that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Sealed Air's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.41%.

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.