Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Takes $393,000 Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 78,871,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,249,613,000 after purchasing an additional 820,362 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 18,439,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $993,170,000 after purchasing an additional 318,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,328,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $769,977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,939 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SW opened at $46.61 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $56.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.75 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.50.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock’s revenue was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is currently 140.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.21 per share, with a total value of $595,207.80. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. The trade was a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.90, for a total value of $215,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.