Insider Selling: Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Insider Sells 24,225 Shares of Stock

Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $53.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.60 and its 200 day moving average is $50.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $56.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.67 billion, a PE ratio of 96.67 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37.

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 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 312.73%.

Institutional Trading of Smurfit Westrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Citigroup increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Argus assumed coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

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.