Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 142,008 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,148 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $5,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 456,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,434,000 after buying an additional 55,255 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 731,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,897 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.0% in the third quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 188,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,180,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 6.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,907,000 after acquiring an additional 282,279 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:SW opened at $42.11 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.58. The company has a market capitalization of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on SW. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.10.

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.