Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 1,912 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 30.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,260 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,912 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 target price on the stock. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. 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 research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $44.24 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.43 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. 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 Company 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.