Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Buys New Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at $749,735,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 81.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 18,400,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $793,978,000 after purchasing an additional 8,286,205 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 152.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,269,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180,531 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4,580.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,233,997 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of SW stock opened at $42.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $44.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.56. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $32.73 and a twelve month high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 136.09%.

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.