Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 104,601 Shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp trimmed its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 10.2% in Q3, selling 104,601 shares and now holds 917,916 shares (~0.18% of the company) valued at about $38.77 million.
• Company insiders also sold shares: CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares at an average of $51.54 (~$2.06M) and CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares at $51.26, leaving insiders with roughly 0.49% ownership.
• Smurfit Westrock increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4523 (annualized $1.81), implying a yield of about 4.6%, though the dividend payout ratio is elevated at 136.09%.

Mackenzie Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 10.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 917,916 shares of the company's stock after selling 104,601 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 0.18% of Smurfit Westrock worth $38,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 11,353,140 shares of the company's stock worth $482,917,000 after acquiring an additional 5,511,887 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $3,330,000. Capital International Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth approximately $373,000. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 7.2% in the third quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 7,522,983 shares of the company's stock worth $320,253,000 after purchasing an additional 507,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter worth $16,540,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Smurfit Westrock news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $2,061,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,660,119.40. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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 $7,773,271.44. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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 raised their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $60.00 price objective on Smurfit Westrock in a research note 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.10.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW opened at $39.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.56. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a fifty-two week low of $32.73 and a fifty-two week high of $52.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 6.10%. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.4523 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.09%.

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.

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