Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC decreased its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 54.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,564,022 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,896,688 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $84,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 34,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 10,312 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 233,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after buying an additional 7,550 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of SW opened at $41.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $47.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.10. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.79 and a beta of 1.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

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.