Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,411 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 107,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,456 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $304,377,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,915,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 59,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,178,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp raised its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 426.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 360,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,431,000 after acquiring an additional 292,268 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 3.3 %

SW stock opened at $44.21 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $38.55 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.62. The stock has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced 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%. Research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

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.