Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 159,923 Shares of International Paper (NYSE:IP)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in International Paper (NYSE:IP) by 1,323.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 172,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,923 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in International Paper were worth $6,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in IP. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of International Paper in the third quarter valued at approximately $144,509,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in International Paper in the 4th quarter valued at $83,530,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of International Paper by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 36,929,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,331,687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436,757 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Paper by 208.0% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,610,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,933 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of International Paper by 13.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,811,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,553,000 after buying an additional 1,011,315 shares in the last quarter. 81.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP James P. Jr. Royalty sold 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.75, for a total transaction of $201,550.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 69,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,414,708. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,200 shares of company stock valued at $287,770. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IP. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of International Paper in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Argus cut shares of International Paper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of International Paper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 14th. Bank of America raised shares of International Paper from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, International Paper presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.13.

International Paper Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of IP opened at $36.77 on Tuesday. International Paper has a fifty-two week low of $29.00 and a fifty-two week high of $41.28. The firm has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.84 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.67.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. International Paper had a net margin of 1.52% and a return on equity of 8.87%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that International Paper will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

International Paper Profile

International Paper Company produces and sells renewable fiber-based packaging and pulp products in North America, Latin America, Europe, and North Africa. It operates through two segments, Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers. The company offers linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium and saturating kraft; and pulp for a range of applications, such as diapers, towel and tissue products, feminine care, incontinence, and other personal care products, as well as specialty pulps for use in textiles, construction materials, paints, coatings, and others.