O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 31.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,474 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,243 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

SW opened at $39.36 on Tuesday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52-week low of $37.76 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.55. The company has a market cap of $20.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.56 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. On average, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. 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. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock 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.