Invesco Ltd. Purchases 323,225 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,849,057 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 323,225 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.89% of Smurfit Westrock worth $530,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $38.16 on Wednesday. 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 cap of $19.92 billion, a PE ratio of 69.38 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.40. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1-year low of $37.48 and a 1-year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SW. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

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.