Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires Shares of 7,294 Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Barclays PLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $171,026,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,026,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 12,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 149,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,073,000 after purchasing an additional 6,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $46.61 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.50. The firm has a market cap of $24.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.75 and a beta of 1.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The business’s revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Irial Finan purchased 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, the director now owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Profile

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.