Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 820,362 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 820,362 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.15% of Smurfit Westrock worth $4,249,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $215,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $426,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $957,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $2,134,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $44.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.71 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SW shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.