Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Buys 170,404 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 200.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 255,515 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 170,404 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 105.2% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE SW opened at $40.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.50. The company has a market capitalization of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.38 and a beta of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial set a $50.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.