Nordea Investment Management AB Has $211.35 Million Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Nordea Investment Management AB cut its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,450,082 shares of the company’s stock after selling 324,141 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 1.04% of Smurfit Westrock worth $211,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth approximately $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after acquiring an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 272.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,240,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,493,000 after acquiring an additional 8,218,351 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,917,000 after acquiring an additional 5,511,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180,531 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of SW opened at $36.20 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52 week low of $32.73 and a 52 week high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.09%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price target on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.60.

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.