NewEdge Wealth LLC Raises Holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 189.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,062 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,818 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,472,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,997 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,779,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $896,661,000 after purchasing an additional 339,787 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $749,735,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.3% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,693,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,101,000 after purchasing an additional 193,099 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 2.38% 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, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus lowered their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.20.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $46.21 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1 year low of $32.73 and a 1 year high of $54.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.46. The firm has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.09.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

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.