Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 941.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 152,353 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 137,725 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $5,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SW. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027,125 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,083,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,235,000 after purchasing an additional 246,041 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $39.87 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.84. The company has a market capitalization of $20.90 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial set a $60.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.