Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Raises Stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Gateway Investment Advisers raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 34.1% in Q4 to 191,277 shares, valued at about $7.40 million.
• Insiders sold stock: CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares and CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares in February, reducing insider ownership to 0.46% while institutional investors own roughly 83.38%.
• Dividend and results: the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4523 (annualized $1.81, ~4.3% yield) despite a 251.39% payout ratio; recent quarter missed EPS by $0.03 but beat revenue, and analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $53.18 target.

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 34.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 191,277 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 48,671 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $7,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake 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 period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter valued at $33,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the second quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 105.2% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.18.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total transaction of $512,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 151,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,773,271.44. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.46% of the company's stock.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of SW opened at $41.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a PE ratio of 57.82 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.53. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.57 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.22% and a return on equity of 4.96%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 251.39%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.