Marathon Asset Management Ltd Purchases 23,465 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Marathon Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 266,831 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,465 shares during the quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.05% of Smurfit Westrock worth $10,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 51.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the period. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 163,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,319,000 after acquiring an additional 23,600 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 149,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,763,000 after acquiring an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 112,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,341,000 after acquiring an additional 7,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.18.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $35.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.36. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65. The firm has a market cap of $18.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.55 and a beta of 0.95.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 251.39%.

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.