Forsta AP Fonden Cuts Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $5,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SW. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW stock opened at $53.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.88 and a 200 day moving average of $49.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.46 and a beta of 1.03. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $7.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 672.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.