Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Invests $30,000 in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SW. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.7 %

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

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.