Albar Capital Partners LLP Makes New Investment in Smurfit Westrock PLC $SW

Key Points

• Albar Capital Partners LLP has acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC, purchasing 163,011 shares valued at approximately $7.35 million, representing 3.3% of its investment portfolio.
• Smurfit Westrock reported earnings per share of $0.45 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate, but its revenue of $7.94 billion exceeded expectations and was up 167.4% year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4308 per share, translating to a dividend yield of 3.7% and a payout ratio of 260.61%.

Albar Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 163,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,345,000. Smurfit Westrock comprises 3.3% of Albar Capital Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth about $473,000. Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 27,413 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 139.3% during the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 76,467 shares of the company's stock worth $3,446,000 after purchasing an additional 44,513 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 2.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 986,592 shares of the company's stock worth $44,456,000 after purchasing an additional 24,974 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Smurfit Westrock by 46.0% during the first quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,460 shares of the company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Smurfit Westrock Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:SW traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.16. The stock had a trading volume of 3,312,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,764,597. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.82. The company has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 71.45 and a beta of 1.04. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a twelve month low of $37.01 and a twelve month high of $56.99. 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 issued 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Smurfit Westrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4308 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Smurfit Westrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 260.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on SW shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Smurfit Westrock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.78.

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.