Board of the Pension Protection Fund Invests $1.43 Million in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 36,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,427,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SW. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 90.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,378 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 48,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,698 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 192.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 8,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 41,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 12,096 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 4.3%

SW opened at $36.94 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $52.65. The company has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.77 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.18 and a 200 day moving average of $41.30.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

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.