Aberdeen Group plc Has $1.86 Million Position in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC by 41.2%, selling 29,164 shares and now holding 41,637 shares valued at $1,861,000.
• Smurfit Westrock recently reported a missed earnings estimate for the quarter with an EPS of $0.45, below the expected $0.57, despite revenue rising to $7.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $1.72, with a high payout ratio of 260.61%.

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 41.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,637 shares of the company's stock after selling 29,164 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc's holdings in Smurfit Westrock were worth $1,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 127,600.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,277 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,003,480 shares of the company's stock worth $484,927,000 after purchasing an additional 149,210 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 106.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,709 shares of the company's stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 6,032 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 2.8% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 57,939 shares of the company's stock worth $2,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 36.5% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,038 shares of the company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 1.4%

SW stock traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,055,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,479,274. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. The company's fifty day moving average price is $45.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.19 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's payout ratio is currently 260.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

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.