Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $295.75 Million Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 4,456.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,491,092 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,370,587 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $295,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SW shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Barclays boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of SW opened at $46.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.84 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.36 and a 200-day moving average of $50.70.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 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.