Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Corebridge Financial Inc.

Corebridge Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,165 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,513 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $6,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,249,613,000 after acquiring an additional 820,362 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $431,653,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $340,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on SW. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $44.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.59. The firm has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a PE ratio of 80.93 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. 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.