National Security Group: A Security I Will Hold For A Long Time

Introduction

To understand National Security Group (NSEC), we must analyze the two equally important parts of this insurance operation - the underwriting and float allocation. The underwriting is a crucial part to determine the cost of float, as a company that has a low cost of float will consistently have underwriting profits and a company that has an expensive float will in turn consistently have underwriting losses. This concept is relatively similar to banking where you preferably want non-interest bearing deposits or extremely low cost deposits to in turn lend out to get a good spread and thus make money on other people's money. The leverage of the up front and tax-free cash given by policy holders is the use of float which will also be analyzed.

Detailed Background on the Underwriting

The company primarily does dwelling insurance around the Gulf Coast. The company is currently concentrated in the Gulf Coast as shown below:

The company is slowly diversifying away from the Gulf region as shown with the premium volume in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia. This trend will continue, although at a somewhat slow pace as the competition to write business in those states may become unfavorable and writing business for unfavorable policies in order to fulfill a diversification target could be extremely costly. It is important to note that a home owner's insurance policies for the customer in Alabama would be more expensive than a home owner's insurance, for example, in Nebraska as the probability of a claim in Nebraska is lower as there obviously are no hurricanes in the Midwest to cause home damage. The average home owner's annual rate in Nebraska is $1,583 compared to Alabama where the rate is $2,134. So writing home owner's insurance for claim-prone states like Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana isn't necessarily riskier than writing business for a state like Nebraska. The company also has a small life insurance segment that makes up around 10% of total policies and gives NSEC an added leg to hold up the chair. I would note that last year the company had a difficult year in underwriting, as did many insurers as a result of the unusually high amount of claims due to the extremely active storm season. However I am extremely confident that the unusually bad 2017 storm season that gave NSEC a net loss is unlikely to become a consistent pattern. Another added cushion that NSEC has [thus making it a conservative investment] is the reinsurance policy they have, which covers up to 2 events in each calendar year that exceed $4 million in claims. So NSEC would still bear the liability of the first $4 million, yet the reinsurer would bear any added liability [over $4 million].

Detailed Background on Float/Capital Allocation

The float, which in my view is a terrific asset, could turn into a big negative if investments are poorly allocated and cause losses. Another thing that slightly negatively impacts float is the low interest rate environment that we are in. Having said that, the majority of the company's fixed income securities mature within the next 5 years, which better positions the float in case interest rates rise. When/if interest rates rise, the value of the bonds will go slightly down as a result. Yet as long as the company does not sell the bonds, potential losses will always be unrealized. I want to reiterate that I have no clue on where interest rates will be 3 or 5 years from now. But I do think it is important to be cognizant that we are in a low rate environment in historical terms.

Below is the present allocation of the float:

The float, which is composed of corporate debt and government related debt, is decently allocated. I am a little disappointed with the current float composition as I would prefer to see much more equities in the float rather than debt investments as equity investments, such as low cost index funds, will generally outperform over the long term compared to fixed income. Part of the reason for the lack of equities is the regulators do have control in limiting equity allocation.

In Conclusion

I do believe that the intrinsic value of NSEC is greater than its current market cap of $39.4 million/$15.60 per share. A rough guidepost of looking at intrinsic value is the book value of $46 million/$18.53 per share. I want to reiterate that book value is an extremely rough starting point to get to intrinsic value, as the real determinant of a company's value is how much cash it can generate from now to forever. In my view the intrinsic value is a little above book value, as I believe that low cost float will slowly grow along with a slow diversification from the Gulf Coast, which will in turn increase net income over time. However I want to reiterate to readers that I do think the company is bound to have some annual losses as a result of the occasional strong storm season. Yet those losses will not be very often and mitigated due to the reasoning I gave in the underwriting background. So you will need a stomach for volatility at the occasional time there is an underwriting loss.

In the above table you can see the volatility with net income and net losses, which is largely associated with their Gulf Coast concentration and a one-off litigation settlement from a former investment. However, over the last five years, NSEC achieved a 9% annual growth in book value. I do want to stress that if one bought this stock for just a year or two they may lose money, but for the very long term investor this will be a good purchase.

I am thrilled to be a shareholder of NSEC and plan to be one for many years to come.

Disclosure: I am/we are long NSEC.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

LightPath Tech Focuses On Autonomous Vehicles

LightPath Technologies, Inc. (LPTH) is an infrared, diversified optics company with a future focus on autonomous vehicles/AV. Their Lidar products are utilized for AV.

The micro-cap stock is trading with a market capital around $52 million; a near 52-week low around $2 price per share. The bottom support, P/E value among peers, and the decent volume could pair well with steady revenue growth. A DIY investor could pick up shares at a value if willing to risk the uncertainties of a micro-cap stock.

LightPath Tech holds market research showing that 2021 will bring key adoption for autonomous vehicles, thus increased demand for sensors (Lidar, ADAS, etc.). Their research shows the growth from, "$2.5 billion in 2016 to nearly $4.6 billion by 2021, a 5-year CAGR of 12.6%." - 12/'17 LightPath Press Release

The aforementioned 2021 timeline coincides with Ford Motor's (F) launch of its autonomous vehicles in Florida:

According to the Q1 2018 Ford earnings transcript, Ford will operate autonomous vehicles in Florida by end of 2021. This will be a partnership with Domino's Pizza and Postmates. - The Swift FCF Yield

The following analysis will look at three aspects:

LightPath's better appeal among micro-cap peers utilizing FinViz screener Cash on hand and FCF Yield A review of past interests/concerns from 11/'16 LightPath analysis LightPath Revenue Growth +5% Sequentially

When locating a stock at year lows, it can be safe to assume there is distress. On top of the average concerns, an investor could expect revenue is on the decline. This is not the case with LightPath Tech.

LPTH Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

When running a stock screener, LightPath Technologies is found by choosing: (1) stocks under $300m Market Cap, (2) under 15 P/E and forward P/E, and (3) "sales growth past 5 years" of over 5%.

The company's price to earnings P/E is 6.8. When comparing the Q/Q sales growth for the past 5 years, there is an increase of 24.47% CAGR (Q3 2013, $2,846,718; Q3 2018, $8,503,628).

The stock price action has had two previous spikes over the course of 3 years.

LPTH data by YCharts

LightPath Technologies is within the Industrial Electrical Equipment industry and only a few micro-caps are listed. By using similar screening values in P/E, the comparisons are:

Highpower International, Inc. (HPJ)	3.5 P/E
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corp. (APWC)	4.0 P/E
Bonso Electronics International, Inc. (BNSO)	6.7 P/E
LightPath Technologies, Inc.	6.8 P/E
The LGL Group, Inc. (LGL)	109 P/E

Overall, LightPath Tech has showed a low support formation around the $2 price per share. When looking for a growing micro-cap, the company appears to be of fair value with decent P/E and consisted revenue growth. Cash on hand and analysis of debt is also important to consider.

LightPath Tech FCF Yield

At the end of Q3 2018, LightPath Tech had $6.4m in cash and equivalents on hand, which might seem low. However, the cash flow, CapEx, and FCF are better handled than comparable micro-caps as shown in the Seeking Alpha chart below.

When the FCF is compared to the market capital for a yield, we arrive at approximately 0.33%. The yield is low, but at least positive. CapEx is elevated with investments in R&D, namely autonomous vehicle tech.

Update On Past Analysis

It was November 2016 when Dallas Salazar last analyzed LightPath Technologies in "LightPath Technologies/ISP Optics M&A..." At that time, the institutional ownership was charted in the image below.

(Data from 11/'16 analysis)

One of the risks at that time was the willingness for institutions to buy a micro-cap with a low price per share that had just taken on more expenses with a recent M&A. The next chart shows the most recent institutional ownership.

(Data from 03/'18)

There are several changes to point out. Vanguard Group Inc. was once the largest institutional holder by share volume with 357,762 shares. That has since increased to 819,927 for a 129% jump, but they are no longer the largest holder.

Wellington Management Group LLC has $453,768m in market capital and they hold the largest share volume of LightPath with 2.5 million shares. Manatuck Hill Partners LLC and Royce & Associates LP each own over one million shares.

Among these shareholders, five have more than doubled their position. The largest movement was by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, which increased by a multiple of 27 going from 15,680 to 444,369 shares.

LightPath Tech Valuation Benchmarks

Another comparison from the former analysis in November 2016 is Enterprise Value/EV. At that time, the price per share was around $1.50 and the EV was approximately $20m. Salazar had projected a 100% upside with a $41.5m target EV. As of May 2018, the price per share hovers near $2 and the EV is $61m.

A new conservative price target can be arrived by using discounted Q/Q or Y/Y sales growth of 15% CAGR and then a price to sales valuation. For example, we know that a 5-year, Q/Q sales growth is at 24.47% CAGR. If a conservative estimate of a flat $8m can be seen for Q4, then there will be a 2018 total sales of approximately $32.5m. This would give us a 5-year, Y/Y sales growth of 22.5% CAGR. Using a 15% CAGR for projection seems reasonable.

The current P/S ratio is approximately 1.66, which would give us about a $2.43 PPS target for 2019 if no dilution. For 2021, the P/S valuation would be about $3.22 PPS, again with no dilution. The return on investment now could yield over 50% with a 3-year horizon, 17% for a 1-year horizon. I think the 3-year conservative horizon can be beat with successful integration into the AV market.

Risks

First, the company tends to have a backlog and yet it is also growing into other markets such as autonomous vehicles. This backlog is viewed as a positive by the company, "As a result of our strong bookings performance in the third quarter, our 12-month backlog was approximately $12.9 million in March 31, 2018, an improvement from $12.3 million at the end of the second quarter and $9.3 million from the beginning of the fiscal year."

The concern is if this micro-cap can scale and compete versus larger companies? Is it susceptible to larger companies taking its customer base when it is unable to fulfill orders at faster rates?

Second, the company states in the Q3 10-Q Form that it has increased its assets abroad, namely China. "As of March 31, 2018, we had approximately $14.7 million in assets and $12.6 million in net assets located in China, compared to approximately $14.0 million in assets and $12.3 million in net assets located in China as of June 30, 2017."

The concern is the timing of the U.S. Administration's tariff struggle with China and the limitless negative reciprocity that may come with it. There is a risk that LightPath Tech could find operating in China more expensive in seasons to come or that repatriation of the cash to carry great loss.

A third concern is the history of dilution for supporting inorganic growth. Last time, December 2016, Roth Capital and underwriting partners picked up 8 million shares at $1.21 PPS. This was used to finance the acquisition of ISP. Moving ahead into Autonomous vehicles/AV could also require similar financing and dilution.

Conclusion

Autonomous vehicles/AV is a growing market with a benchmark of 2021. It is of interest to be a shareholder of a smaller company that could grow substantially due to said advancement. The low price per share of LightPath Tech presents as an undervalued stock for the patient retail investor. This stock is rated a buy.

Disclosure: I am/we are long LPTH, F.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

Trump campaign manager, RNC chair ask social media companies for guarantees they won't censor conser

Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee are asking Facebook and Twitter for assurances that they will safeguard access to "fair content" and guarantee that conservative voices are not censored or buried.

Trump's 2020 Campaign Manager Brad Parscale and RNC chair Ronna McDaniel made the requests to Facebook and Twitter in a letter sent Thursday, which they later posted online.

Parscale and McDaniel wrote that they have grown concerned after media reports over the past few years and claims from users that Facebook staff had "manipulated" the trending section to exclude conservative news and that some conservative personalities have had their content suppressed. On Twitter, they said that conservative users have "accused the company of unfairly targeting them," by purging their accounts of followers in an attempt to fight fake news.

"We recognize that Facebook and Twitter operate in liberal corporate cultures. However, rampant political bias is inappropriate for a widely used public forum," McDaniel and Parscale wrote.

Accusations that social media censors conservative views has hounded the companies for years. Both Facebook and Twitter are based in the largely liberal enclaves around San Francisco, California, and their executives are often aligned with liberal causes.

Last month, Facebook erroneously told pro-Trump social media stars Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson -- known as "Diamond and Silk" -- that their content had been deemed "unsafe for the community." Facebook quickly said the message had been sent in error, and immediately sought to contact both Hardaway and Richardson. But since the incident the pair have used it to accuse the company of censorship including testifying in front of Congress that Facebook had blocked their page, though their page was never actually blocked.

In their letter Thursday, McDaniel and Parscale also questioned Facebook's efforts to encourage voter registration, asking for "transparency over how Facebook determines who sees these advertisements in their news feeds" so that they don't become an "in-kind contribution to liberal candidates."

"How will you safeguard voters' access to fair content on your platform? How will you guarantee that conservative voices are no longer censored, and conservative news no longer buried or otherwise hidden?" McDaniel and Parscale wrote. The pair asked for responses by June 18.

Despite the criticisms of the companies, Parscale and the Trump campaign have a deep connection to Facebook and Twitter. Parscale, who was Trump's 2016 digital director, has directly credited Facebook and Twitter as the reason why they won - noting multiple times that Trump got his message out via Twitter and that the campaign relied heavily on Facebook for fundraising and micro-targeting campaign ads. Parscale even brought Facebook employees into the campaign to better take advantage of social media to promote Trump.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the company does not suppress content based on political views.

"Facebook is proud to be a platform for all ideas. We do not suppress content on the basis of political viewpoint or prevent people from seeing what matters most to them because doing so would be directly contrary to Facebook's mission and our business objectives," the spokesperson said.

A Twitter spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Power Payout Sends Surprise Boost to Coal, Nuclear Plants

Embattled coal and nuclear power-plant operators stand to get a lot more money to provide capacity to the biggest U.S. electricity grid -- if they can hold on for another three years.

Generators are going to make $140 a megawatt-day for the year starting in June 2021, 83 percent more than the prior year, according to the results Wednesday of an auction by PJM Interconnection LLC. It was the first increase in three years and 19 percent more than the highest analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. They ranged from $75 to $118.

“Everybody’s going to be happy tonight,” said Kit Konolige, a utility analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “It’s got to be a few billion dollars extra for your friendly generators out there.”

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Years of declining power prices have made it tough for plant operators, and at least 7 gigawatts of coal and nuclear capacity in the PJM region are at risk of closing by 2021. The higher rates will help generators and show that the market can still support these plants even as natural gas and renewables continue to gain market share.

The U.S. Energy Department is weighing a March request from FirstEnergy Corp.’s competitive power unit -- now in bankruptcy -- for government aid to help keep money-losing nuclear and coal-fired power plants online. Nuclear and coal proponents argue that their loss could imperil the reliability of the nation’s electric grid.

New Entries

After years of rapid growth in gas plants, the pace of new entries was the slowest in seven years, according to a statement from PJM.

“You have had low energy prices, so it wouldn’t surprise me if people were saying, ‘Hey, if we’re gonna bid into this market, we’re going to require a higher level of revenue from capacity,’” said Paul Patterson, an analyst for Glenrock Associates LLC. “One year’s results does not a trend make. The capacity auction has shown some considerable volatility over the years.”

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Nuclear capacity fell 7.4 gigawatts in the latest auction, and some “fairly large” coal plants failed to clear, Stu Bresler, PJM’s senior vice president for operations and markets, said on a conference call after the results were released. Half a gigawatt more coal capacity cleared, a fact which may reflect efforts to increase the plants’ efficiency, he said.

“New generators held back entering PJM this year, which drove up capacity auction results for 2021-22,” Toby Shea, a vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an emailed statement. “Higher-than-expected prices are credit positive for all independent power producers operating in the region.”

Share Prices

Shares of generators with plants in the grid rose after the results were announced, with NRG Energy Inc. gaining 2.6 percent after the close of regular trading, and Vistra Energy Corp., which acquired Dynegy Inc. assets in April, increasing 1 percent. The two companies are more sensitive to changes in PJM capacity prices than their peers, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts in a May 14 note.

Grid zones that encompass the Chicago area and portions of southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which both soared last year, had more lackluster results than PJM’s grid-wide price. The Chicago-area zone, known as ComEd, increased 3.9 percent, while the Pennsylvania and New Jersey zone, known as Emaac, decreased 12 percent. Shares of Exelon Corp. and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., whose plant concentrations are in those zones, were little changed.

PJM, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, has been at the center of the shale gas revolution that’s displaced coal as the nation’s number one fuel source. It spans 13 states and serves more than 65 million people from Chicago to Washington. The capacity auction held each spring is designed to secure future generating capacity. Costs are passed along to households and businesses on their utility bills.

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A Government Shutdown This Fall Is Already A Real Possibility

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image getty size-large wp-image-959539456&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/959539456/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;640&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Fiscal 2019 appropriations do not appear to be a high priority for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI). Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Even though the start of the next federal fiscal year is still four months away, Congress&s;s action...or, really, inaction...over the past week makes it virtually certain both that a continuing resolution will need to be enacted by October 1 to keep the government operating and that there will be a possible government shutdown this fall only six weeks before the midterm elections.

How is this possible? As they used to say in the cartoons (see below starting at about 55 seconds), just follow the bouncing ball.

1. Republican House and Senate leaders months ago made it clear that, even though federal law requires it, they will not allow Congress to vote on a budget resolution this year.

2. Appropriations for the coming year -- fiscal 2019 in this case -- cannot be considered by the full House until either the budget resolution is adopted or May 15, whichever comes first.

3. That means that as of a week ago, the House was legally allowed to debate and pass appropriations for the fiscal year that will start this October 1.

4. But even though it could move ahead, the House took no action whatsoever on any of the 2019 appropriations.

&l;!--donotpaginate--&g;5. In fact, &l;a href=&q;https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Appropriations+for+Fiscal+Year+2019&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;according to Congress.gov&l;/a&g;, as of today only 5 of the 12 fiscal 2019 appropriations have been approved by the full House Appropriations Committee and another 2 have been approved by their subcommittee.

6. That means there hasn&s;t been even a preliminary approval of five of the fiscal 2019 appropriations.

7. And, as the Congress.gov chart also shows, nothing has yet been approved by either the full Senate Appropriations Committee or any of its subcommittees even though they&s;re not required to wait for the House to move forward.

8.&a;nbsp;Congress doesn&s;t have a great deal of time. Not only will fiscal 2019 begin in about four months, but&l;a href=&q;https://www.majorityleader.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2018-Annual.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g; the House is only scheduled&l;/a&g; to be in session 42 of the 95 weekdays between now and then. &l;a href=&q;https://www.senate.gov/legislative/resources/pdf/2018_calendar.pdf&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;The Senate is only scheduled&l;/a&g; to be in session for 61 days.

9. Unless the House, Senate and White House work at an unprecedentedly fast pace, the only way to prevent a government shutdown this fall will be for Congress to agree on a continuing resolution.

10. But with Paul Ryan (R-WI) being a lame duck speaker, the House Freedom Caucus&l;a href=&q;https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/18/farm-bill-fails-597661&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g; once again feeling its political oats&l;/a&g;, Democrats not wanting to hand the GOP any kind of legislative victory just before the election and a president who may feel the need to prove his value to his base on spending after he signed the 2018 omnibus appropriation against its wishes, getting an agreement in the House on a CR may not be that easy.

11. An agreement between House and Senate Republicans that is also acceptable to Trump will be just as difficult. He&s;s already tweeted that he wants billions for his wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

&l;/p&g;&l;blockquote class=&q;twitter-tweet&q;&g;

&l;p dir=&q;ltr&q; lang=&q;en&q;&g;The Senate should get funding done before the August break, or NOT GO HOME. Wall and Border Security should be included. Also waiting for approval of almost 300 nominations, worst in history. Democrats are doing everything possible to obstruct, all they know how to do. STAY!&l;/p&g;

&a;mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) &l;a href=&q;https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/995428472674758656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;May 12, 2018&l;/a&g;&l;/blockquote&g;

12. It&s;s logical to assume that Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) want to prevent the possibility of a shutdown this fall by pushing hard to enact as many individual 2019 appropriations as possible.

13. But with so few legislative days left before the start of the fiscal year, that option essentially is already gone.

14. Ryan and McConnell will also want to avoid short-term CRs that will keep House and Senate Republicans in Washington in October rather than campaigning for reelection in their districts and states.

15. That makes October 1 the relevant deadline and a showdown this fall over a multi-month continuing resolution and a government shutdown a real possibility.

WestRock (WRK) Receiving Somewhat Favorable News Coverage, Study Shows

News articles about WestRock (NYSE:WRK) have trended somewhat positive this week, Accern Sentiment reports. Accern identifies negative and positive news coverage by monitoring more than twenty million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. WestRock earned a daily sentiment score of 0.15 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave news coverage about the basic materials company an impact score of 47.1495208394802 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near term.

These are some of the media stories that may have impacted Accern Sentiment’s scoring:

Get WestRock alerts: Are WestRock Company��s (NYSE:WRK) Interest Costs Too High? (finance.yahoo.com) EagleClaw Capital Managment, LLC Buys WestRock Co, International Business Machines Corp, Collegium … (gurufocus.com) Beating the Earnings Estimates or Not? WestRock Company (WRK) (nmsunews.com) Trading Psychology �� WestRock Company (WRK), Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) (nmsunews.com) Stop Chasing High Dividend Yield stock: WestRock Company (WRK) (nasdaqchronicle.com)

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WRK shares. Deutsche Bank set a $78.00 price target on shares of WestRock and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of WestRock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of WestRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Saturday, April 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of WestRock from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, ValuEngine cut shares of WestRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $75.90.

NYSE:WRK traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,150,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,847,621. The stock has a market cap of $15.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.40. WestRock has a twelve month low of $51.61 and a twelve month high of $71.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.83. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. WestRock had a net margin of 12.01% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. equities analysts anticipate that WestRock will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 4th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. WestRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.65%.

In related news, Director John A. Luke, Jr. sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.95, for a total value of $5,021,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 534,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,761,945.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John A. Luke, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $3,278,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 545,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,758,718.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,831 shares of company stock worth $12,656,836. 2.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WestRock Company Profile

WestRock Company manufactures and sells paper and packaging solutions for the consumer and corrugated markets in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates through three segments: Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, and Land and Development. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards for consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.

BB&T (BBT) Receiving Somewhat Positive Press Coverage, Study Shows

News stories about BB&T (NYSE:BBT) have been trending somewhat positive on Friday, according to Accern Sentiment Analysis. The research firm ranks the sentiment of news coverage by analyzing more than 20 million blog and news sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. BB&T earned a news sentiment score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned news articles about the insurance provider an impact score of 46.6887882598231 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near future.

Here are some of the news articles that may have impacted Accern Sentiment Analysis’s analysis:

Get BB&T alerts: BB&T And Novant Health Partnership: Banking And Health Resourcees For Hispanic Community (wfmynews2.com) New BB&T And Novant Health Partnership Helps Triad Latino Community (wfmynews2.com) Norfolk’s BB&T building is getting spruced up (pilotonline.com) Former BB&T branches going up for auction in Triad and across North Carolina (finance.yahoo.com) Florence police investigate after Jeep crashes into bank (wbtw.com)

NYSE:BBT traded down $0.52 on Friday, hitting $54.91. 3,195,095 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,049,313. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. BB&T has a 52 week low of $41.17 and a 52 week high of $56.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05.

BB&T (NYSE:BBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 19th. The insurance provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.02. BB&T had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. analysts anticipate that BB&T will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 10th. This is a boost from BB&T’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. BB&T’s payout ratio is 47.77%.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. ValuEngine cut shares of BB&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 3rd. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of BB&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 20th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of BB&T in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BB&T in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of BB&T in a research report on Thursday, April 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. BB&T presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.48.

In other news, Director K. David Jr. Boyer sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total transaction of $137,575.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Cynthia B. Powell sold 2,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.78, for a total transaction of $151,498.26. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,000 shares in the company, valued at $914,260. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 316,048 shares of company stock worth $17,014,541 over the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BB&T Company Profile

BB&T Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides various banking and trust services for small and mid-size businesses, public agencies, local governments, and individuals. The company operates through four segments: CB-Retail, CB-Commercial, IH&PF, and FS&CF. Its deposit products include noninterest-bearing checking, interest-bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.