Focus Partners Wealth Buys Shares of 9,496 Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at $5,252,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 9,581 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $221,026,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 1,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth about $418,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $45.98 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52-week low of $37.01 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.60 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.99 and its 200 day moving average is $49.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, the director now owns 54,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.20.

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.