Amundi Cuts Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Amundi decreased its position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 20.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,710,569 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,230,333 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $244,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $627,244,000. FMR LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $340,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $46.53 on Monday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1-year low of $38.55 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a PE ratio of 84.61 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.78.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

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.