Capital Research Global Investors Reduces Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Capital Research Global Investors lowered its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,531,119 shares of the company’s stock after selling 140,754 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 5.27% of Smurfit Westrock worth $1,172,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $51,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SW. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.7%

SW stock opened at $42.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $32.73 and a one year high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $44.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.58.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 136.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.