Marshall Wace LLP Sells 3,089,175 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Marshall Wace LLP cut its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 74.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,072,163 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,089,175 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.21% of Smurfit Westrock worth $57,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $171,026,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at $1,007,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth $100,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $134,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SW. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada set a $57.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.03. 2,077,524 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,748,100. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.42 and a beta of 1.00. The business's 50-day moving average price is $45.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.