Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,475 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in WestRock were worth $1,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in WestRock by 14.2% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in WestRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,584,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in WestRock by 70.4% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,825,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,342,000 after purchasing an additional 753,828 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in WestRock by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 600,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,940,000 after purchasing an additional 165,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its stake in WestRock by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 111,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,648,000 after purchasing an additional 43,910 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on WestRock from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of WestRock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of WestRock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on WestRock in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

WestRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WRK opened at $47.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.57. WestRock has a 1-year low of $26.85 and a 1-year high of $49.67. The company has a market cap of $12.37 billion, a PE ratio of -7.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.10.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.15). WestRock had a positive return on equity of 6.87% and a negative net margin of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $4.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. WestRock’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that WestRock will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.3025 per share. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently -18.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WestRock news, insider Vicki L. Lostetter sold 3,500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 92,117 shares in the company, valued at $3,939,844.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

About WestRock

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.