J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 14.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,806,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,013,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027,125 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,917,000 after purchasing an additional 5,511,887 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,493,000 after purchasing an additional 8,218,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,083,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,235,000 after purchasing an additional 246,041 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $40.18 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.83. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.73.

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.