Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) Shares Sold by Polar Capital Holdings Plc

Polar Capital Holdings Plc decreased its holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 85.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 449,180 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $4,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $46.61 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $24.33 billion, a PE ratio of 84.75 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.50.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 140.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on SW shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.20.

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.