United Services Automobile Association Buys 740 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

United Services Automobile Association boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,572 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $623,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in 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 bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Argus began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’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 owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 1.7 %

SW opened at $44.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.11 and a 200-day moving average of $50.65. The company has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.71 and a beta of 0.99. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week 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.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. On average, equities analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.