Wells Fargo & Company MN Purchases 2,203 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 247,964 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,203 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $13,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on SW shares. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE SW opened at $41.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.29 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.16.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. On average, analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

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.