Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Buys New Stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 39,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,331,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew 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 worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, 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 $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This trade represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE SW opened at $46.53 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $52.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.78. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.61 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. 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. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

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.