Perpetual Ltd Purchases New Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd has acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock PLC, purchasing 9,853 shares worth approximately $425,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported quarterly earnings with an EPS of $0.45, missing analysts' expectations, although revenue grew significantly by 167.4% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, yielding an annualized dividend of 3.9%, although the payout ratio stands at a high 260.61%.

Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,853 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SW. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 40.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 42,104 shares of the company's stock worth $2,268,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 109.9% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,316 shares of the company's stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 5,925 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter valued at $1,598,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 507,336 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,325,000 after buying an additional 6,508 shares during the period. Finally, GTS Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock in the 4th quarter valued at $264,000. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Smurfit Westrock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.00.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Performance

Shares of SW traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $43.39. The stock had a trading volume of 4,016,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,202,425. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.15. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a one year low of $37.01 and a one year high of $56.99. The firm has a market cap of $22.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a net margin of 1.14% and a return on equity of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $7.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrock's revenue was up 167.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 260.61%.

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.