State of Michigan Retirement System Buys 5,200 Shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,264 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SW. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 117.7% during the fourth 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. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial started coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.70.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $48.29 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.23 and its 200-day moving average is $50.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.37. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 52 week low of $38.55 and a 52 week high of $56.99. The company has a market capitalization of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 87.79 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Smurfit Westrock’s dividend payout ratio is 312.73%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the 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 owns 111,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,136,877.48. This represents a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 44,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,391,057.90. The trade was a 8.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.