Weiss Asset Management LP Grows Holdings in Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Weiss Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE - Free Report) by 68.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 405,542 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 164,863 shares during the quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP owned approximately 0.28% of Sealed Air worth $14,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Sealed Air by 38.2% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,114,281 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $143,136,000 after buying an additional 1,136,985 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Sealed Air during the third quarter worth approximately $139,800,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Sealed Air by 33.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,910,647 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $66,475,000 after purchasing an additional 479,675 shares in the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Sealed Air by 1.4% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sealed Air by 45.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,613,957 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,587,000 after purchasing an additional 502,999 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on SEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Sealed Air from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Sealed Air from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Raymond James upgraded Sealed Air from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Sealed Air from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sealed Air currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Sealed Air Price Performance

SEE traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.54. 815,595 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,501,633. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.62, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.34. Sealed Air Co. has a 1 year low of $30.87 and a 1 year high of $41.14. The business's 50 day moving average price is $35.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.77.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. Sealed Air had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 74.21%. The firm's revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Sealed Air's payout ratio is currently 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.