Insider Selling: Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) CFO Sells $512,600.00 in Stock

Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW) CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

NYSE:SW opened at $48.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.44. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.62 and a beta of 1.09. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $32.73 and a 1-year high of $54.00.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%.The firm’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 136.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smurfit Westrock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 113.3% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.20.

Smurfit Westrock Company 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.