Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 587,470 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,828 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Smurfit Westrock worth $31,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $340,848,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,221,119.24. The trade was a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of SW opened at $53.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.67 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12-month low of $38.55 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $53.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd 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 Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

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.