Securian Asset Management Inc. Takes $1.43 Million Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Securian Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 26,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,430,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company's stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company's stock worth $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SW. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Argus began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SW traded up $0.92 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.99. 4,090,312 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,559,277. 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 Ltd has a 1-year low of $38.55 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.68. The firm has a market cap of $24.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.62 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

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.