Investors Research Corp Sells 627 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Investors Research Corp lowered its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 44,001 shares of the company’s stock after selling 627 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $2,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

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 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 is available through this link. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly 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. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock opened at $46.53 on Monday. 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 Ltd has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.61 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.78.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its 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, analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

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.