Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,984 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,399 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $2,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SW. State Street Corp bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $340,848,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SW opened at $53.00 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.22. The company has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.46 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a twelve month low of $38.55 and a twelve month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share 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 positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Argus started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research 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 currently has an average 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.