Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) CFO Ken Bowles Sells 10,000 Shares

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.3%

NYSE:SW traded down $1.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $48.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,131,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,623,356. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63 and a beta of 1.09. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12 month low of $32.73 and a 12 month high of $54.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The firm’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.4523 dividend. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $60.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,472,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233,997 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 36,127,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,057,000 after buying an additional 8,596,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,652,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $953,311,000 after buying an additional 845,218 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at $749,735,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.