Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Position Decreased by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV lowered its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 63,113 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,873 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SW. State Street Corp purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $340,848,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This represents a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on SW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $53.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.67 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52-week low of $38.55 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

About Smurfit Westrock

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box.