J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Makes New $999,000 Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,333,000 after buying an additional 3,180,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after buying an additional 3,027,125 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.8%

SW opened at $40.18 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $21.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.83.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share 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 is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.73.

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.