Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. Invests $264,000 in WestRock (NYSE:WRK)

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WestRock (NYSE:WRK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 8,649 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of WestRock by 3.6% during the first quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,606 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of WestRock by 0.6% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,133 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,499,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of WestRock by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of WestRock by 1.8% during the first quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 21,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in shares of WestRock by 4.7% during the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 9,113 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. 85.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on WestRock from $29.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on WestRock from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on WestRock from $42.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, June 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on WestRock from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on WestRock in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WestRock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.78.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WestRock

Shares of WestRock stock opened at $31.77 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a PE ratio of -5.73 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.49. WestRock has a 52 week low of $26.84 and a 52 week high of $43.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.19.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.16 billion. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 8.75% and a negative net margin of 6.82%. WestRock's quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that WestRock will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. WestRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -19.86%.

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates in 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.

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