Diversified Trust Co. Acquires 33,966 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Diversified Trust Co. increased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 135.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,132 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,966 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $2,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter worth $51,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This trade represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SW. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Smurfit Westrock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.91.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of SW opened at $40.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.33 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.86 and its 200 day moving average is $41.04. 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 PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65.

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 net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.28 EPS. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.4523 dividend. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 136.09%.

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.