Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 78,871,259 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 820,362 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 15.15% of Smurfit Westrock worth $4,249,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 120.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 180,908 shares of the company's stock worth $9,744,000 after buying an additional 98,887 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $9,338,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 46,834 shares of the company's stock worth $2,522,000 after buying an additional 14,840 shares during the last quarter. Incentive AS grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Incentive AS now owns 2,285,423 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,093,000 after buying an additional 797,893 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 142.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 17,885 shares of the company's stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 10,504 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.51. The stock had a trading volume of 4,134,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,790,591. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $23.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.93 and a beta of 0.99. The company's 50-day moving average is $50.51 and its 200 day moving average is $50.59. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.