State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Grows Stock Holdings in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Posted by on Jul 16th, 2023

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,480 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.05% of WestRock worth $4,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lion Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in WestRock by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 10,065 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in WestRock by 3.6% during the first quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its stake in WestRock by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 8,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in WestRock by 0.6% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in WestRock by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.54% of the company’s stock.

WestRock Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE WRK opened at $29.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.53. WestRock has a 12 month low of $26.84 and a 12 month high of $43.37. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.02.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.26. WestRock had a negative net margin of 5.86% and a positive return on equity of 9.98%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that WestRock will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

WestRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 11th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 10th. WestRock’s payout ratio is -22.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WRK shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of WestRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of WestRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of WestRock from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of WestRock in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

About WestRock

(Free Report)

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates in 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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

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