Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Insider Sells $1,333,828.50 in Stock

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm’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. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW stock traded down $1.79 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $53.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,413,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,336,448. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.40 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.90. 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 (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SW. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,249,613,000 after acquiring an additional 820,362 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after acquiring an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $967,582,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company’s stock valued at $993,170,000 after acquiring an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

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.