Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Insider Alvaro Henao Sells 4,000 Shares

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE SW traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,927,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,323,906. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.06 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.36. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 6,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

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.