Man Group plc Raises Stock Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Man Group plc increased its position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 31.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 175,030 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 42,108 shares during the period. Man Group plc's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $9,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,300,041,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 20,720,312 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,115,996,000 after purchasing an additional 7,050,781 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at about $304,377,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 4,456.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,491,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $295,750,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $221,026,000. Institutional investors own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on SW shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $215,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Irial Finan bought 15,180 shares of Smurfit Westrock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $0.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,015,661 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,616,854. 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 Ltd has a 12 month low of $37.01 and a 12 month high of $56.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 79.60 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $42.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.27.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 6.16%. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.41 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 161.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 140.98%.

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.