Hartford Financial Management Inc. Sells 650 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lessened its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 7.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,605 shares of the company’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,249,613,000 after acquiring an additional 820,362 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,996,000 after acquiring an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,170,000 after acquiring an additional 318,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $769,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,939 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $42.38 on Thursday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.83 and its 200 day moving average is $48.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 1.98%. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.