WestRock (NYSE:WRK) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.14 EPS

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The basic materials company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.14, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.75 billion. WestRock had a return on equity of 5.85% and a net margin of 1.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share.

WestRock Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE WRK opened at $51.16 on Friday. WestRock has a 52 week low of $26.85 and a 52 week high of $51.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a PE ratio of 42.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.10.

WestRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a $0.3025 dividend. This represents a $1.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. WestRock’s payout ratio is currently 101.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WestRock

In other news, insider Vicki L. Lostetter sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.77, for a total transaction of $149,695.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,939,844.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WRK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of WestRock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of WestRock from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of WestRock in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

About WestRock

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.