JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,378,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 94,218 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.84% of Smurfit Westrock worth $235,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $957,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $1,124,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $1,537,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $893,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,751,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Argus started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE SW opened at $45.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a twelve month low of $38.55 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.35 and a 200 day moving average of $50.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.91 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

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

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.