Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Takes $479,000 Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $59,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $362,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $754,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth $51,430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW stock opened at $44.26 on Friday. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a 12 month low of $38.55 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a PE ratio of 80.47 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Analysts forecast that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is presently 312.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total value of $1,333,828.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 completion of the transaction, 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. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.