Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Increases Holdings in International Paper Company $IP

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) by 58.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 12,303 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in International Paper were worth $1,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of International Paper by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 63,413,335 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,498,013,000 after buying an additional 14,422,616 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in International Paper by 81.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,832,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $584,270,000 after acquiring an additional 6,663,986 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in International Paper in the fourth quarter worth $250,093,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in International Paper by 66.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,601,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $485,566,000 after acquiring an additional 5,417,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas FRM LLC boosted its holdings in International Paper by 56.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas FRM LLC now owns 5,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.95% of the company’s stock.

Key International Paper News

Here are the key news stories impacting International Paper this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $48 and assigned a Buy rating, implying approximately 17% potential upside based on the referenced price. The call suggests confidence in containerboard pricing and International Paper’s longer-term recovery prospects. Benzinga analyst price target report
• Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter adjusted EPS was $0.04, beating the consensus estimate of a $0.04 loss. Recent insider activity also showed five open-market purchases and no sales over the past six months, including purchases by the CEO and other executives. These factors may provide some support for investor confidence. International Paper second-quarter results
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan upgraded International Paper’s stock rating, while other recent analyst targets have been mixed. Institutional positioning was also divided, with some large investors adding shares and others making substantial reductions. JPMorgan International Paper rating update
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue totaled $6.00 billion, below roughly $6.2 billion in expectations and down 11.3% year over year. The company reported a $12 million loss from continuing operations, negative free cash flow of $7 million, and reduced profitability expectations. Management projected full-year adjusted EBITDA of $3.20 billion to $3.40 billion and warned that a temporary Pine Hill, Alabama, mill closure will reduce third-quarter EBITDA by about $85 million. Higher maintenance, input and freight costs are adding further pressure. Zacks International Paper earnings analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts cut estimates for second- and third-quarter EPS, reinforcing concerns that maintenance outages, macroeconomic headwinds and weaker profitability could outweigh the quarterly earnings beat. International Paper EPS forecast revision

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on IP shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of International Paper from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of International Paper from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of International Paper from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of International Paper in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised International Paper from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.75.

International Paper Price Performance

IP opened at $41.03 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $21.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.29 and a beta of 0.94. International Paper Company has a 12-month low of $29.26 and a 12-month high of $52.28.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.19 billion. International Paper had a negative net margin of 14.20% and a negative return on equity of 1.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts predict that International Paper Company will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Paper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.4625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. International Paper’s payout ratio is presently -29.09%.

International Paper Profile

International Paper is a global producer of renewable fiber-based products, focused primarily on pulp, paper, and packaging. The company manufactures containerboard and corrugated packaging used for shipping and retail display, as well as a range of specialty papers and pulp products that serve industrial, consumer goods, and e-commerce customers. Its product portfolio is oriented toward large-scale packaging solutions, tissue and paper grades, and raw pulp for a variety of manufacturing uses.

Founded in 1898, International Paper is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, and is one of the largest and longest-established companies in the forest products sector.