Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Takes $33,000 Position in International Paper Company $IP

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in International Paper by 1.8% in the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 71,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in International Paper by 44.3% in the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 16,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 5,100 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in International Paper by 4.5% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 76,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,255 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in International Paper by 1.8% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,592,637 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $121,413,000 after acquiring an additional 45,382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in International Paper by 6.1% in the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 31,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares during the last quarter. 81.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of International Paper from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of International Paper from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America raised shares of International Paper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on International Paper from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on International Paper from $61.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.85.

International Paper Stock Down 6.2%

Shares of IP stock opened at $44.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -442.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.10. International Paper Company has a 12-month low of $43.27 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.17 and a 200-day moving average of $47.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $6.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. International Paper had a positive return on equity of 2.63% and a negative net margin of 0.12%.International Paper’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that International Paper Company will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Paper Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.4625 dividend. This represents a $1.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. International Paper’s payout ratio is presently -1,850.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Joseph R. Saab sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.53, for a total value of $409,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 27,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,259,951.69. This represents a 24.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

About International Paper

International Paper Company produces and sells renewable fiber-based packaging and pulp products in North America, Latin America, Europe, and North Africa. It operates through two segments, Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers. The company offers linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium and saturating kraft; and pulp for a range of applications, such as diapers, towel and tissue products, feminine care, incontinence, and other personal care products, as well as specialty pulps for use in textiles, construction materials, paints, coatings, and others.