Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,407,034 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 135,656 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $75,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp purchased a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at approximately $967,582,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $627,244,000. FMR LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $431,653,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $386,712,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at $340,848,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on SW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Argus started coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

NYSE SW opened at $54.62 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 303.43 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average is $53.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.56.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a negative net margin of 0.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.98%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 672.26%.

Insider Transactions at Smurfit Westrock

In other news, insider Saverio Mayer sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $1,371,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 149,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,221,119.24. The trade was a 14.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.