Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 64,330 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,793 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $3,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Securian Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $1,430,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $199,000. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC increased its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 12,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock opened at $44.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 81.71 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.