KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Takes Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 173,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,338,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 55,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.7 %

SW stock opened at $44.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 1-year low of $38.55 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.65. The company has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.71 and a beta of 0.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

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.