Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Position Reduced by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,504,597 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $64,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $42.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $44.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.57. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 135.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% 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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.10.

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.