WestRock (NYSE:WRK) Plans $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

WestRock (NYSE:WRKGet Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 29th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 12th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, May 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%.

WestRock has decreased its dividend by an average of 18.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. WestRock has a payout ratio of 18.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect WestRock to earn $5.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

WRK stock opened at $49.53 on Friday. WestRock has a 12-month low of $40.78 and a 12-month high of $62.03. The business’s 50-day moving average is $47.02 and its 200 day moving average is $46.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.11.

WestRock (NYSE:WRKGet Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.02. WestRock had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 4.50%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WestRock will post 4.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other WestRock news, insider Thomas Stigers sold 15,000 shares of WestRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.10, for a total value of $751,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 88,034 shares in the company, valued at $4,410,503.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WRK. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WestRock during the fourth quarter worth $58,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in WestRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $238,000. Toroso Investments LLC acquired a new position in WestRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in WestRock during the fourth quarter worth about $299,000. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in shares of WestRock by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 7,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.96% of the company’s stock.

WRK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America lowered shares of WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, January 20th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of WestRock in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on WestRock from $60.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 4th. Zacks Investment Research raised WestRock from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on WestRock from $43.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.30.

About WestRock (Get Rating)

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 two segments, Corrugated Packaging and Consumer Packaging. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.

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Dividend History for WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

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