Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Cuts Position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Free Report) by 97.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 724,792 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in WestRock were worth $613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of WestRock by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 39,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,878,000 after purchasing an additional 5,108 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WestRock by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 71,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,365,000 after purchasing an additional 12,559 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of WestRock by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 35,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of WestRock by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 208,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WestRock by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. 85.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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WestRock Stock Performance

Shares of WRK stock opened at $37.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.52 billion, a PE ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. WestRock has a 52-week low of $26.84 and a 52-week high of $39.30.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.39. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 8.75% and a negative net margin of 6.82%. The business had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that WestRock will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently -19.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WRK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on WestRock from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on WestRock from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on WestRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on WestRock from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on WestRock from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.57.

Check Out Our Latest Report on WRK

WestRock Profile

(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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