APG Asset Management N.V. Sells 56,466 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

APG Asset Management N.V. lowered its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 38.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 89,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56,466 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $4,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,300,041,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $627,244,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $304,377,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 4,456.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,491,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,750,000 after buying an additional 5,370,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $221,026,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SW. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial began coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock opened at $40.81 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $21.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.20 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $47.56 and its 200 day moving average is $50.22. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. As a group, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total transaction of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % 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 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.