Ninety One SA Pty Ltd Invests $5.63 Million in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Ninety One SA Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 145,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,632,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $63,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 2.6%

SW stock opened at $42.28 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79 and a beta of 1.06.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Barclays cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.91.

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.