Westpac Banking Corp lessened its position in shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Free Report) by 37.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,176 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in WestRock were worth $926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in WestRock by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in WestRock by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 8,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in WestRock by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in WestRock by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in WestRock by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.54% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
WRK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on WestRock from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Bank of America raised WestRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on WestRock from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on WestRock in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.25.
WestRock Price Performance
WRK opened at $32.55 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.60. WestRock has a 12 month low of $26.84 and a 12 month high of $43.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.02.
WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.23 billion. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 9.98% and a negative net margin of 5.86%. WestRock’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that WestRock will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.
WestRock Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently -22.63%.
WestRock Company Profile
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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