WestRock (NYSE:WRK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK) in a report released on Tuesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WRK. Wells Fargo & Company restated an equal weight rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of WestRock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Truist Financial increased their price target on WestRock from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered WestRock from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of WestRock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WestRock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $42.40.

WestRock Stock Up 0.7 %

WRK opened at $47.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.83. The company has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of -7.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.10. WestRock has a 1 year low of $26.85 and a 1 year high of $49.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.55.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $4.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.79 billion. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 6.87% and a negative net margin of 8.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that WestRock will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.3025 dividend. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently -18.01%.

Insider Transactions at WestRock

In related news, insider Vicki L. Lostetter sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.77, for a total value of $149,695.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 92,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,939,844.09. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of WestRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WRK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of WestRock during the fourth quarter worth $194,739,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of WestRock by 59.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,318,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $283,947,000 after purchasing an additional 3,459,641 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WestRock by 9.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,528,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $808,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320,073 shares during the last quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of WestRock by 297.7% during the fourth quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,065,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $127,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pentwater Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of WestRock during the third quarter worth $61,378,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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 through 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.