Lansdowne Partners UK LLP Reduces Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Lansdowne Partners UK LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,154,231 shares of the company's stock after selling 938,326 shares during the quarter. Smurfit Westrock makes up approximately 16.3% of Lansdowne Partners UK LLP's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP owned 0.80% of Smurfit Westrock worth $223,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $1,300,041,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $627,244,000. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $304,377,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 4,456.7% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,491,092 shares of the company's stock worth $295,750,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,587 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $221,026,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm'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 approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.4 %

Smurfit Westrock stock traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $41.35. The company had a trading volume of 3,693,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,781,293. The firm's fifty day moving average is $46.76 and its 200-day moving average is $50.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.19 and a beta of 1.00. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $37.01 and a fifty-two week 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 posted its quarterly 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

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.