Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,117 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,096 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $45.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.84 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.66. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12-month low of $38.55 and a 12-month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.