Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Sells 608,500 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lowered its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 23.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,011,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 608,500 shares during the period. Smurfit Westrock accounts for approximately 1.7% of Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned 0.39% of Smurfit Westrock worth $108,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth $340,848,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Argus began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Insider Activity

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

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $44.24 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $23.02 billion, a PE ratio of 80.43 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $38.55 and a one year high of $56.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 312.73%.

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.