Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Purchases 20,070 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) by 13.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,537 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,070 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after buying an additional 8,286,205 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,250,000 after buying an additional 1,821,862 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,500,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,812,000 after buying an additional 1,399,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,421,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,997 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.9%

SW opened at $45.89 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.48. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $54.00. The stock has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.4523 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 135.34%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares in the company, valued at $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.20.

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.