International Paper (NYSE:IP) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of International Paper (NYSE:IP – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on IP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of International Paper from $78.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 12th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of International Paper from $54.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Friday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of International Paper from $47.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, April 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of International Paper from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of International Paper from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $56.93.

Shares of NYSE:IP opened at $46.28 on Friday. International Paper has a one year low of $40.45 and a one year high of $65.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.36 and a 200-day moving average of $47.22. The company has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.71.

International Paper (NYSE:IP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.24. International Paper had a return on equity of 17.83% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that International Paper will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other International Paper news, major shareholder Paper Co /New/ International sold 4,132,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $143,587,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,614,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $160,348,940.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in International Paper by 9.8% during the third quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 552,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 49,279 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its holdings in International Paper by 503.3% during the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 41,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 34,234 shares during the period. Norwood Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of International Paper in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of International Paper by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 9,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 873 shares during the period. Finally, Widmann Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of International Paper in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors own 83.57% of the company’s stock.

About International Paper (Get Rating)

International Paper Company operates as a packaging company primarily in United States, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Pacific Rim, Asia, and rest of the Americas. It operates through two segments: Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers. The Industrial Packaging segment manufactures containerboards, including linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating kraft.

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