Whipplewood Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $627,244,000. FMR LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $340,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,225 shares of company stock worth $2,920,429. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SW. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.9 %

SW stock opened at $52.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.14 billion, a PE ratio of 94.81 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.59 and its 200 day moving average is $50.49. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $38.55 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS 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, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors 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 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.