Sei Investments Co. Lowers Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Sei Investments Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 357,495 shares of the company’s stock after selling 66,204 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $19,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $627,244,000. FMR LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $431,653,000. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $340,848,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $304,377,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % 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 Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on SW shares. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of SW stock opened at $45.47 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a PE ratio of 82.67 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.59.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.