Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $4.28 Million Position in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,387 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,086 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $4,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,252,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 42,487 shares of the company's stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 9,581 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,026,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,602 shares of the company's stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SW shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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 lowered their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $53.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Irial Finan acquired 15,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.21 per share, for a total transaction of $595,207.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,152,354.53. This trade represents a 38.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $1,333,828.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 111,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SW traded down $0.21 on Monday, reaching $46.43. 2,472,255 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,659,216. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day moving average of $49.50. The company has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.42 and a beta of 1.00. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business's quarterly revenue 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 business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid 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 presently 140.98%.

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.