Moore Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Moore Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 737,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,389,000. Moore Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.14% of Smurfit Westrock as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at about $51,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 company’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 in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of SW stock opened at $39.43 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.32 and a 200-day moving average of $41.40.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). 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, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SW shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.10.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.