Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Acquired by AE Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 9.1% in Q4, buying 30,804 shares to hold 369,652 shares (about 0.07%) valued at roughly $14.29 million, and institutional investors now own 83.38% of the company.
• Smurfit Westrock increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4523 (annualized $1.81), yielding about 4.3%, but the dividend payout ratio is a high 136.09%, which may raise sustainability concerns.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive — an average rating of Moderate Buy (11 Buys, 1 Hold, 1 Sell) with an average target price of $53.91 and individual targets roughly between $49 and $58.

AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 369,652 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 30,804 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Smurfit Westrock worth $14,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,776 shares of the company's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 22,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,082 shares of the company's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SW. Jefferies Financial Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $54.00 target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $53.91.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

SW stock opened at $42.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $32.73 and a 12-month high of $52.65. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $43.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.66.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.10% and a net margin of 2.24%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.4523 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 136.09%.

Insider Activity at Smurfit Westrock

In related news, CEO Anthony P. J. Smurfit sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $2,061,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,610 shares in the company, valued at $84,660,119.40. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ken Bowles sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.26, for a total value of $512,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 151,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.46% 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.

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