Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners sold 153,429 shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC, reducing its stake by 25.4% and now owns 451,189 shares valued at approximately $20.3 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC and Orbis Allan Gray Ltd, have significantly increased their positions in Smurfit Westrock, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Smurfit Westrock with a price target of $57.78, while the company recently missed earnings expectations with an EPS of $0.45.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) by 25.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 451,189 shares of the company's stock after selling 153,429 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.09% of Smurfit Westrock worth $20,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SW. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Smurfit Westrock by 284.8% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,416 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its position in Smurfit Westrock by 74.8% in the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 10,114,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,746,000 after acquiring an additional 4,329,653 shares in the last quarter. Albar Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,345,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $473,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Smurfit Westrock by 242.2% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 38,729 shares of the company's stock worth $1,745,000 after buying an additional 27,413 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.78.

Smurfit Westrock Price Performance

Smurfit Westrock stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $45.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,096,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,739,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.41 and a beta of 1.04. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 1-year low of $37.01 and a 1-year high of $56.99. The stock's fifty day moving average is $45.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.56.

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

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio 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.