United Services Automobile Association Has $623,000 Stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW)

United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in Smurfit Westrock Ltd (NYSE:SW) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,572 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 740 shares during the quarter. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $623,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SW. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the third quarter worth about $426,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $957,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,134,000. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE SW opened at $44.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.71 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Smurfit Westrock Ltd has a one year low of $38.55 and a one year high of $56.99.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.33). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 0.63%. Research analysts expect that Smurfit Westrock Ltd will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.4308 dividend. This is an increase from Smurfit Westrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Smurfit Westrock’s payout ratio is 312.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $66.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus initiated coverage on Smurfit Westrock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Smurfit Westrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.70.

Insider Activity

In other Smurfit Westrock news, insider Ken Bowles sold 24,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 111,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,136,877.48. The trade was a 17.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Alvaro Henao sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 44,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,391,057.90. This trade represents a 8.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.