Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Acquires 20,070 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 13.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 172,537 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,070 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 50.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SW. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $45.89 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $54.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.97 billion, a PE 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $42.93 and a 200-day moving average of $41.48.

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). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.4523 dividend. This is an increase 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 135.34%.

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.