78,257 Shares in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Bought by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 78,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,331,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CI Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 23.1% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 82,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,521,000 after acquiring an additional 15,523 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 96.8% during the 3rd quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 9,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 4,466 shares during the last quarter. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $958,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 44,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,000 after buying an additional 2,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.20.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of SW opened at $45.25 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 136.09%.

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.