Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 497,823 Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sealed Air Co. (NYSE:SEE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 497,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,841,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SEE. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sealed Air by 139.4% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 218.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Sealed Air in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 148.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 98.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 94.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sealed Air

In other news, Director Henry R. Keizer acquired 1,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.00 per share, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 35,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,050,000. The trade was a 3.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sealed Air Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:SEE opened at $30.19 on Tuesday. Sealed Air Co. has a twelve month low of $29.33 and a twelve month high of $41.14. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.68. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Sealed Air had a return on equity of 74.21% and a net margin of 7.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Sealed Air Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Sealed Air Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Sealed Air’s payout ratio is currently 44.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SEE shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $36.00 target price on shares of Sealed Air in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $39.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Sealed Air from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Sealed Air from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.25.

Sealed Air Company 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.