Veritiv (NYSE:VRTV) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Veritiv (NYSE:VRTV) in a research report report published on Monday. The firm issued a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Separately, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Veritiv from $159.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th.

Veritiv Price Performance

Veritiv stock opened at $168.61 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $155.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Veritiv has a 52 week low of $94.50 and a 52 week high of $169.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 2.17.

Veritiv (NYSE:VRTV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The basic materials company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.02 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter. Veritiv had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 37.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Veritiv will post 20.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritiv Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th were paid a $0.63 dividend. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 16th. Veritiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.35%.

Institutional Trading of Veritiv

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRTV. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Veritiv by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 149,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,256,000 after buying an additional 22,181 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. boosted its position in Veritiv by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Veritiv by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 4,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new position in Veritiv in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Veritiv by 60.8% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 160,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,633,000 after buying an additional 60,554 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.03% of the company’s stock.

Veritiv Company Profile

Veritiv Corporation operates as a business-to-business provider of value-added packaging products and services, facility solutions, and print based products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through Packaging, Facility Solutions, and Print segments. The Packaging segment provides packaging product materials within flexible, corrugated and fiber, ancillary packaging, rigid, and equipment categories.