V Square Quantitative Management LLC Sells 379 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lessened its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,217 shares of the company’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of SW opened at $53.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.98 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $38.55 and a 1 year high of $56.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a positive return on equity of 5.98% and a negative net margin of 0.12%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 672.26%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 149,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. This represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SW shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Argus assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

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.