Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,767 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,093 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $5,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SW. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. The trade was a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW traded down $0.25 during trading on Thursday, reaching $53.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,763,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,792,238. The firm has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.14 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.94 and a 200-day moving average of $49.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.48. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.23). Smurfit Westrock had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $7.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is 672.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.70.

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.