McIlrath & Eck LLC Has $66,000 Holdings in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

McIlrath & Eck LLC lessened its stake in WestRock (NYSE:WRK) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 428 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in WestRock were worth $66,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,174 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in WestRock during the fourth quarter worth $4,584,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in WestRock by 70.4% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,825,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,342,000 after purchasing an additional 753,828 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in WestRock by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 600,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,940,000 after purchasing an additional 165,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its position in WestRock by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 111,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,648,000 after acquiring an additional 43,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

WestRock Price Performance

Shares of WestRock stock traded up $3.01 on Thursday, reaching $50.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,192,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,088,505. WestRock has a 1 year low of $26.85 and a 1 year high of $51.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $13.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.57.

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

WestRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.3025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $1.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. WestRock’s payout ratio is currently -18.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WestRock

In other WestRock news, insider Vicki L. Lostetter sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.77, for a total transaction of $149,695.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.49% 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.