Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 18,536 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,059,201 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,536 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Smurfit Westrock worth $57,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during 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 period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,011,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Truist Financial started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 a consensus price target of $60.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total transaction of $1,371,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,221,119.24. This trade represents a 14.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $54.00 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.10 billion, a PE ratio of 299.99 and a beta of 1.02. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52-week low of $38.55 and a 52-week high of $56.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 672.26%.

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.