Alvaro Henao Sells 4,000 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Stock

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) 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 transaction, the insider now owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW stock opened at $51.77 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1-year low of $38.55 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.40. The company has a market capitalization of $26.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.13 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 312.73%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SW. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,473,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,350,000 after acquiring an additional 173,975 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 3,738 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. BIP Alliance LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $488,000. Finally, GTS Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at about $264,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on SW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Argus began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

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.