Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Purchased by Ruffer LLP

Ruffer LLP boosted its position in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 473.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,504,151 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,718,562 shares during the quarter. Smurfit Westrock comprises approximately 7.9% of Ruffer LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Ruffer LLP owned about 0.86% of Smurfit Westrock worth $174,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on SW. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $59.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $54.00 target price on Smurfit Westrock and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Smurfit Westrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.91.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of SW opened at $41.24 on Wednesday. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 52-week low of $32.73 and a 52-week high of $52.65. The company has a market capitalization of $21.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

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.