Ken Bowles Sells 10,000 Shares of Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) Stock

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $48.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.45. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $54.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 135.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 13,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 41,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SW has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.20.

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.