Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 3.3 %

NYSE SW opened at $44.21 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. 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 yield of 3.90%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

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.