Greenleaf Trust Boosts Stock Holdings in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 8th, 2023

Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Rating) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in WestRock were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of WestRock by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,619,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,440,053,000 after acquiring an additional 252,490 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of WestRock by 12.7% during the third quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 9,946,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,251,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,520 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of WestRock by 11.7% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,923,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,965,000 after buying an additional 619,458 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of WestRock by 17.2% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 4,655,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,801,000 after buying an additional 681,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of WestRock by 2.0% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,625,087 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $142,869,000 after buying an additional 90,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

WestRock Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WRK opened at $30.06 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $31.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.76. WestRock has a 12-month low of $26.84 and a 12-month high of $54.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $4.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.11 billion. WestRock had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 3.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that WestRock will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 9th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on WestRock from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 2nd. Argus cut WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Citigroup raised WestRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on WestRock from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 15th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on WestRock in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WestRock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.57.

About WestRock

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WestRock Co engages in the provision of sustainable fiber-based paper and packaging solutions. It operates through the following segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment consists of the sale of corrugated containers and other corrugated products including displays.