211,014 Shares in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Bought by TIAA Trust National Association

TIAA Trust National Association bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 211,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,983,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,250,000 after buying an additional 1,821,862 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,500,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,812,000 after buying an additional 1,399,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 at this link. 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 owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Barclays boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Ten 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, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.20.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $46.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28 and a beta of 1.09. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $53.25. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.34%.

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.