Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,191 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,370 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. United Services Automobile Association raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,572 shares of the company's stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. Walnut Level Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,501,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,249,613,000 after buying an additional 820,362 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 120.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 180,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,744,000 after acquiring an additional 98,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $9,338,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SW shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.70.

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Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE SW traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $39.36. The company had a trading volume of 7,017,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,809,246. The company has a market capitalization of $20.54 billion, a PE ratio of 71.56 and a beta of 1.00. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $49.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.55. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1-year low of $37.76 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.