Vanguard Group Inc. Has $2.36 Billion Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,939,711 shares of the company’s stock after selling 532,334 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Smurfit Westrock worth $2,356,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 79,790.6% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 127,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,459,000 after acquiring an additional 127,665 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 970,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,762,000 after purchasing an additional 74,360 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 42.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,239,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,779,000 after purchasing an additional 372,177 shares during the period. Exane Asset Management lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 35.4% in the third quarter. Exane Asset Management now owns 345,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,703,000 after buying an additional 90,233 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,333,000 after buying an additional 3,180,531 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $39.69 on Thursday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 135.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.91.

Smurfit Westrock 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.