Synovus Financial Corp Sells 12,473 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Synovus Financial Corp lessened its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 72.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,803 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,473 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SW. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 189.3% in the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 18,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 11,818 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 63.3% during the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 28,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 10,916 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4.9% during the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 145,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,270,000 after acquiring an additional 31,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,251,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,109,000 after acquiring an additional 889,239 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.20.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.9%

SW stock opened at $45.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The business’s 50-day moving average is $42.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.48. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $54.00.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 135.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.